Music / Mary J. Blige

Known as the "Queen of Hip Hop Soul", Mary Jane Blige was born January 11, 1971 in The Bronx, New York. She is considered one of the most, if not the most successful R&B singer of all time. She has won 9 Grammys and is the only artist to have won Grammys in the pop, rap, R&B and gospel categories. Blige started her music career in 1992, releasing her multi-platinum debut album, What's the 411?. Her 2009 album, Stronger With Each Tear, is her seventh consecutive album to debut at number one on the Billboard Top 100.

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Discography:

• 1992: What's the 411?
• 1994: My Life
• 1997: Share My World
• 1999: Mary
• 2001: No More Drama
• 2003: Love & Life
• 2005: The Breakthrough
• 2007: Growing Pains
• 2009: Stronger with Each Tear
• 2011: My Life II... The Journey Continues (Act 1)
• 2013: A Mary Christmas
• 2014: The London Sessions
• 2017: Strength of a Woman
• 2022: Good Morning Gorgeous

Television:

• America's Next Top Model
• Entourage
• Ghost Whisperer
• The Jaime Foxx Show
• Scream: The TV Series
  • Scream: Resurrection
• Strong Medicine
• The Umbrella Academy
• Lost Ollie

Film:

• Body Cam
• I Can Do Bad All by Myself
• Mudbound
• Nina
• Respect (2021)
• Rock of Ages
• The Wiz

Voice Acting:

• Sherlock Gnomes
• Trolls: World Tour

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This musician provides examples of:

• Album Title Drop: No More Drama in "Family Affair": "We're celebrating no more drama in our lives"
• Break-Up Song: "Enough Cryin'", of the "Over You" variety.
• Drugs Are Bad: Had addiction to drugs from her teens to her mid-twenties. Had an addiction to alcohol from her early to late twenties.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Lil' Kim and Missy Elliott
• Hip Hop Soul: Though not the Trope Namer or Trope Maker, she's the undisputed Trope Codifier, and her name is synonymous with the genre.
• Evil Is Hammy: She appeared in a TV special of The Wiz as Evillene, the Wicked Witch of the West, and didn't fall into the usual Dull Surprise stereotype of singers trying out acting.
• Lighter and Softer: Share My World is noticeably more upbeat and lighter compared to the dark tone of My Life, which was recorded while she was battling deep personal problems
• Milking the Giant Cow: Check out the "Real love" video or her video for "No More Drama"
• Perfectly Cromulent Word: A line from "Family Affair": "Don't need no hateration, holleratin'/In this dancery"
• Pretty in Mink: Wore a white fur wrap for the cover of her Christmas album.
• Shout-Out: The title of her HERstory compilation is a nod to Michael Jackson's own compilation/studio album HIStory: Past, Present, and Future -- Book I.
• Spelling Song: "Love" has a verse spelling out the title.

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