Mary J. Blige, Share My World (1997)

Share My World is a potent and magnetic album with excellent production from the Trackmasters and Mary J. sounds exceptional. The project seamlessly blends hip-hop and R&B incorporating energetic bass and moody soul rhythms with a flurry of rap hitmakers like Nas, Lil' Kim and The Lox and R&B crooners like R. Kelly and the star of the show Ms. Blige. The best part to this creation of marked greatness are Mary's grown woman topics such as the seven days with which it takes for a relationship to both spark and fade as exemplified on Seven Days (nope, it isn't brain surgery). There's enough here to keep you entertained for a whole summer. It's a good album to have if you ever decide to be stranded on a deserted isle.

On Round and Round, Mary gets straight forward about a lover keeping her in the dark about their standing. "You don't know what you did to me when you told me you love me/ now you're acting shady, now I'm going crazy, please stop falling back on me/ 'cause I got to keep from going round!" All this over that banging Jay-Z beat from Reasonable Doubt's The Evils, what more could you want?

Everything was on the radio forever in the Fall of 1997. All the ladies knew the words, and the guys couldn't front like they didn't like it. With its sample of You Are Everything by the Stylistics, Mary croons a happy tune of what else but love?

And on Share My World's last track, M. J. B. gets real mellow and dejected on the redeeming Not Gon' Cry, where she chants "you're not worth my tears." Moving on from a less than happy relationship is something all women can appreciate and see inspiration in.

Mary's life experiences before and during Share My World's recording were its amphetamine. It lives on its author's bipolarism, changing moods, and life turmoil. The result is art in its most esteemed form. This album is easy to appreciate.

Rating: 9 Platinum Teefs
Copy or Buy: quite possibly Mary's most versatile and comprehensive project, it is worth your dollars, do buy.