The first song has an interesting echo-y coda before easing into “Midnight Drive”, which mixes up a doo-wop sensibility and strident percussion, but also sees Blige doing that rap-singing she does so well, here sounding pleasantly like Neptunes-era Kelis. Nas steps in to contribute, and it works well, serving to remind that Blige has always had one foot in hip-hop and one foot in the world of soul, often managing to create a sound that is particularly her own on records like What’s the 411?, Share My World, and No More Drama. She speaks about this record as an “extension of how far we’ve come,” yet she’s still navigating the pain, and when the beat kicks in on “Feel Inside”, it’s like being transported back to 1994, to Blige’s plaits and leather cap, and her recurrent themes of struggle, heartbreak, and strength – all surveyed with that amazing, peerless vocal. The call prefaces My Life II… The Journey Continues (Act 1), as she talks to the main producer of the classic predecessor, Sean Combs. When a record begins with a telephone call, you know you’re in the idiosyncratic world of hip-hop soul, and luckily it has been left in the capable hands of its queen, Mary J.
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