![]() ![]() The summer of 1992 was the year Blige officially descended onto the music scene with her seminal opus ‘What’s The 411?’ released July 28. ![]() “He believed in me more than I believed in myself,” Blige stated of Combs in the film. The former Uptown Records intern - famously fired by Harrell - has openly credited Blige with the formation of his own flourishing company, Bad Boy Records. In his recently released documentary “Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop,” the Mount Vernon-reared music maverick talks about those humble beginnings and how he fashioned his protégé to be a female version of himself. Related: Meet The Young Conductor Paving the Way for Black Musicians in Orchestra If people are looking for long dressed and high-heel shoes, they'd better look somewhere else." “I grew up in a neighborhood where that's all there was. "There's nothing wrong with being hard-core,” Blige told The New York Times in 1992. ‘ She was raw and she represented the streets so I wanted her image to reflect that and that’s why we went with combat boots and I wanted her represent a girl from the hood.” “I remember when Mary came in, everything was so glamorous in R&B,” Combs reflected in a 2011 interview with VH1’s ‘Behind The Music.’ “I was looking at Mary and was like, ‘trying to make her glamorous would be the wrong move. Some media outlets referred to the trendy sound as “New Jack Swing” (originally attributed to the era’s in-demand producer Teddy Riley) but Harrell came up with the concept of “hip-hop soul” and audaciously crowned the Bronx native its “Queen.” With her baseball cap to the back, baggy clothes and bleached blond tresses, she became an emblem of audacious hope - the little black girl who could make it to the top by not following all the rules, and coloring outside of the lines. who first appeared as a back-up singer on 80’s rapper Father MC’s most notable track ‘I’ll Do 4 U’ - was picking up what her label mates Jodeci was throwing down, ushering a new style of black music that didn’t make any bones about catering directly to the streets, championing the forgotten and speaking up for the disenfranchised all in the name of love. Gone were the shiny, sparkly sequined gowns, the perfectly-coiffed hair and the syrupy, refined lyrics of unrequited love. 25 years later, the nine-time Grammy Award winner performs songs from the opus during her "Strength of a Woman Tour" stop in the Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York City. ![]() (L-R) Mary J Blige's debut album 'What's The 411?' was released in 1992. But thanks to the risk-taking efforts of Uptown Records honcho Andre Harrell (a former rapper, himself) and his ambitious and audacious team of image builders (including Kirk Burrowes, Sybil Pennix, Lisa Cambridge, Malika Thompson and the omnipresent Sean “Puffy” Combs) a legend was born. The young woman’s birth name was Mary Jane Blige and she had a look and sound that was quite a polarizing contrast to what the record industry grew comfortable with for a black R&B vocalist.
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