Critical reception Professional ratings Review scores The album uses primary soul samples from R&B musicians such as Curtis Mayfield, Roy Ayers, Al Green, Teddy Pendergrass, Marvin Gaye, Barry White, Rick James, and his protégés, the Mary Jane Girls. In this period, Blige would once again dominate the charts with her singles: the Top 40 hit " Be Happy", a cover version of " I'm Goin' Down" and "You Bring Me Joy". The album was a breakthrough for Blige, who at this point was in a clinical depression, battling both drugs and alcohol as well as being in an abusive relationship with singer K-Ci Hailey. Rapper Keith Murray was the replacement, while The Notorious B.I.G.'s verse would be released as the song " Who Shot Ya". He was taken off due to the song's lyrical content, which would have forced Uptown Records to release the album with a Parental Advisory sticker. Murray Interlude", it originally featured The Notorious B.I.G. Alexander was later called back in to do some mixing and recording. One of the other songs he produced was another Rose Royce cover – "Love Don't Live Here Anymore" for Faith Evans' 1995 debut Faith. To circumvent this issue, Alexander insisted on having two more sessions with Bad Boy acts. Combs later explained it was due to receiving a flat royalty rate for producing the majority of the songs and Alexander's production credit would have interfered with the royalty rate. Alexander fought hard to seek production credit from Combs and the two battled it out over the phone over the issue. However, the two butted heads over production credit issues, as Combs wanted to give credit to himself and Thompson, although neither were present for the song's recording session. In the middle of recording My Life, Combs suggested covering Rose Royce's 1977 hit " I'm Going Down", which he wanted Alexander to handle the session. Alexander was brought in at the end of the record, after working on albums by other artists on Bad Boy Entertainment, such as Total, The Notorious B.I.G. Ĭombs called recording engineer Prince Charles Alexander out of the blue after Jodeci went to record Diary of a Mad Band. Blige loved the one song Thompson produced for her, which made Combs change the direction of the album. He ended up being a last minute replacement as the producers Blige worked with previously on What's the 411? demanded more money when the album was certified triple platinum. Producer Chucky Thompson was brought in and had originally been contracted to produce one song and an interlude for the project. įollowing the success of her debut album, What's the 411?, and a remixed version in 1993, Blige went into the recording studio in the winter of 1993 to record her second album, My Life. In 1996, following the album's success, MCA issued a remix EP entitled My Life Remix Album which featured artists such as LL Cool J and Lauryn Hill.Ī special commemorative edition of the album was released on November 20, 2020. It also won the 1995 Billboard Music Award for Top R&B Album. In 1996, the album was nominated for Best R&B Album at the 38th Grammy Awards, while in December of the same year, the album was certified triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America, for shipments of three million copies in the United States. Blige's second album to reach the top ten on the Billboard 200 chart, peaking at number seven, and debuting at number one on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, where it stayed for eight weeks. Similar to her debut album, My Life features vast production from Sean "Puffy" Combs for his newly founded label, Bad Boy Entertainment, which was at the time backed by Arista Records.Ĭonsidered to be her breakthrough album, My Life became Mary J. Unlike her debut, What's the 411? (1992), Blige contributed lyrics to fourteen of the album's tracks, making it her most introspective and personal album at the time. Many of the topics on My Life deal with clinical depression, Blige's battling with both drugs and alcohol, as well as being in an abusive relationship. Blige, released on November 29, 1994, by Uptown Records and MCA Records. My Life is the second studio album by American R&B recording artist Mary J.
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