Mary J. Blige

I want to make sure each and every one of you gives it up for the queen of hip-hop and
soul! Miss Mary J. Bliiige!" hollers an announcer at the onset of Blige's first live album, The
Tour. Then, inexplicably, we hear high-drama helicopter noises. Oh, why not – a show
from Ms. Blige is an event. The Tour, recorded at two locales along Blige's 1997-98 Share My
World extravaganza, deftly captures the energy and exuberance of her concer... More >

If "street" seems fake and "real" stupid, try an older cliché: "down-to-earth," a corny compliment no one in the '90s earns more completely. Because she cultivates youth-center loose rather than arena big, Blige's de facto best-of is more than an enlargement. If her raucous tone and sour pitch aren't deliberate, they aren't unwitting either--she believes, correctly, that her fans will relish them as tokens of honesty. And to go out she covers Aretha's "Day Dreaming," which made clear long ago just how street soul sisters on both sides of the monitors really want to be. (Grade: A-)