![]() ![]() Synthesizer-heavy backdrops ("Reminisce," "Love No Limit") are sometimesįlatter or more plastic than either the songs or Blige's passionate performances deserve, while the answering-machine skits, much-copied in the wake of What's the 411?, Occasions when it runs wide of the rails. In retrospect, it is easier to place theĪlbum into the context of her career and, as such, to pinpoint the Title track, but never again would her records lean this heavily on the In the lingo of the day - and even tries her hand at rhyming on the Soul was a genuine expression of Blige's own vision or that of her admittedly fine collaborators (Svengali Sean "Puffy" Combs, R&B producers Dave Hall and DeVante Swing, rap beatsmith Tony Dofat, rapper Grand Puba).Ĭertainly the singer comes across as street-savvy and tough - "real," It's nevertheless unclear how much of the hip-hop swagger in her ("I Don't Want to Do Anything") are nearly as affecting in their own ![]() Their trendiness has worn off, and "You Remind Me" and the duet with Jodeci's K-Ci "Real Love" and the gospel-thrusted "Sweet Thing" (the primaryĬomparisons) are and will remain timeless slices of soul even after One of the decade's most explosive, coming-out displays of pure singing ![]() Neither borrowed nor fabricated, making What's the 411? TheĮloquence and evocativeness that comes through in her voice, could be Bligeīecame the reigning queen of her own hybrid category: hip-hop soul.
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