Mary J. Blige - You Remind Me 1993

MCA Records MCSTD 1770

"Mary, Mary, Mary! You Remind Me..."

This is a freekin' gem, I absolutely love this tune. Mary J. Blige dropped the bomb in '92. Know about Mary, then skip the next three paragraphs.

In 1988, Mary J. Blige recorded an impromptu cover of Anita Baker's Caught Up In the Rapture at a recording booth in a local mall (Damn, anybody remember them, they were cool!). Her mother's boyfriend at the time later played the recording to Jeff Redd, a recording artist and A&R runner for Uptown Records. In 1989, she was signed to the label; becoming the company's youngest and first female artist.

After signing to Uptown, Blige did session work as a background singer for her label mates. In 1990, she was introduced as a background singer for Redd, during a performance at the Apollo Theatre. The same year she also sang the hook on I'll Do 4 U by Father MC, also appearing in the video. In 1991, she was spotted on the syndicated show, Showtime at the Apollo, singing back up for Jeff Redd. Mary's first national debut appearance was in the summer of 1992 when she appeared on Yo! MTV Raps performing What's the 411? with Grand Puba.

Production for Blige's debut album began in 1991, with Sean "Puffy" Combs (at the time a fledgling A&R executive at Uptown) largely overseeing the project. Also enlisted were some of the top R&B and hip hop producers of the time, among them Tony Dofat, Mark Morales and Cory Rooney, Dave "Jam" Hall, and DeVante Swing. On July 28, 1992, Uptown Records released What's the 411? her debut album. You Remind Me was the album's lead-off single, peaked at 29 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and #1 on the R&B singles chart that summer.

In the UK, the track was presented to Ray Hayden who gave it the Opaz treatment. It was a fair track to begin with, the Album Version has a long, drawn out, Diva-ish intro before the street beats drop. Mark Morales gave it some serious beats on the Ad's Mix, making the best of that hooky chorus. Quite what Opaz were expected to do I don't know. I guess it was just a case of getting the UK's hottest, up and coming name on the release.

However, Hayden successfully takes the whole deal up another couple of notched to the left. In the Straight From The Heart Mix, we still have all the major hooks but they sound so much classier. It's still Street but... It's Schmoov! Listen to that bass roll, that scream sample, oh my, yes sir, this is where it's at.

The Straight From The Heart Radio Mix is not simply an edit of the Straight From The Heart Mix, it seems to have more going on but sounds even less cluttered. I would probably favour this mix if it didn't have an early fade, Mr. Black? Mr. V? Any other afficiando's out there that can shed some light here. Maybe I'm hearing an illusion or is there an ultimate mix that I'm missing?

• Straight From The Heart Radio Mix
• Straight From The Heart Mix
• Album Version
• Ad's Radio Mix

The Download Link is here: Download
Filename: Mary J Blige.rar File size: 27.11 MB