$S.37
Anyone who’s bought one among Mary M. Blige’s albums understands that the “queen of hip-hop soul” would a lot slightly push inventive envelopes than lick ’em. With No More Drama, her enlisting of hip-hop’s best beat-makers to create lush musical soundscapes is nothing in need of genius. On the Dr. Dre-produced “Family Affair,” Blige implores the membership set to “get crunk ’trigger Mary’s again” as she introduces some new slang to the hip-hop vernacular (“holleration”). “Steal Away” is a basic Neptunes-induced head-nodder within the “Love Is All We Need” vein, as Pharrell Williams chimes in a Curtis Mayfield-like falsetto. Those who like their J&C straight may be offended by the acoustic guitar solo by Lenny Kravitz on “PMS,” or the album’s title monitor, which samples the theme from The Young and the Restless cleaning soap opera. But take heed to “Where I’ve Been” (a redemptive story of Blige’s not-so-speedy ascent from the ‘hood, that includes visitor raps from Eve) and the Missy Elliott-assisted “Never Been,” and misgivings vanish. Whereas previous Mary C. efforts have been restricted to tales of relationships gone awry, her outlook is extra numerous and upbeat, whereas her scratchy, bluesy vocals have grow to be extra expansive, too. She raps on “Love,” scats on “Beautiful Day,” chats on the a cappella “Forever No More,” and caps No More Drama with a string of uplifting ballads (“P D,” “In the Meantime”), neatly sprucing off a launch that may stand as among the best of 2001. –Dalton Higgins
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