My Favorite "Homemade Tape"...

(*special dedication to that music buff, DJ Diva... I know you know where I'm coming from)

Last month, while packing to move, I came across a box of homemade cassette tapes. It reminded me of my "Wanna-be Bootleg DJ" days in high school, where I was the girl who had the double cassette boombox, and I sold tapes for two bucks a piece....

I laughed at the memories as I went through that box of old homemade tapes. I tossed most of the tapes out, being that I hadn't looked in that box in at least five years.

But there was one tape in particular that I kept, one of my favorites... I must have made this tape at least eight to ten years ago...

A tape full of Mary J. Blige songs.

I love Mary J. Blige. Most likely because we're the same age, and she was always wailing and crying about something I could relate to. She was so full of angst. But I must admit, I'm not her biggest fan right now. Her last album was a bunch of B.S. (That's just my opinion now.) I didn't even buy it.

Her new song is in heavy rotation on the radio. It's a nice song, but...

I like the old Mary J. Blige!

You know, the Mary J. Blige of the early 1990's... The Mary J. Blige that was a hard alcoholic, smoking weed, and doing coke... That Mary J. Blige....

Now don't get me wrong... I'm glad the sister got herself together... She stopped abusing drugs, stopped drinking, started dealing with a better class of people, settled down and married that light-eyed dude...

But I just remember her first two albums (you can tell I'm getting old with the "albums" lingo, right?): What's the 411? and My Life.


What's the 411? was one of the best things since dirt and water. A damn masterpiece, it was. That was at a time when, if I broke the cassette tape, I would immediately go out and get another copy. I must've bought 3 copies of the What's the 411 tape...

Mary J. Blige also got down with the remix album of What's the 411. And let's not even talk about My Life. That's the album where she was strung all out and depressed over K-Ci of the group Jodeci...

(Now, I thought K-Ci could sing his ass off... but come on Mary J., you gotta be embarrassed. Oldboy had you all messed up in the head... You've got to be kidding me...)



The first time I heard My Life, I cried like a baby... I don't know what the heck I was going through at the time, but it affected me just that much...

I liked Share My World. And once I listened to the CD entitled Mary umpteen times, I began to appreciate it... I didn't even buy her last two albums...

But What's the 411? and My Life are classics! (Look at the doggone CD covers... she looked like she was either hardcore or going through some craziness). Will she ever top those albums?... Who knows...

Now back to that homemade tape. I listen to this tape everyday: when I'm getting ready for work, when I'm writing, when I'm unpacking, when I'm cleaning up, when I'm yakking on the phone...

It brings back so many memories... Remember these?...

Side 1:

1. Reminisce
2. My Love
3. Love No Limit
4. Changes I've Been Going Through
5. Real Love
6. You Don't Have to Worry
7. Reminesce (Remix)
8. I'm the Only Woman
9. No One Else
10. A Dream

Side 2:

1. I Don't Wanna Do Anything Else
2. Happy
3. My Life
4. Never Wanna Live Without You
5. Share My World
6. Seven Days
7. Keep you Head to the Sky
8. Get to Know You Better
9. Searching
10. You Use to Love Me (What the... That's not Mary, that's Faith... where that come from!)

Doggonit, I wish that Mary could come back hard with her next album....

Make me cry again, Mary!!

Hey, does anyone know where K-Ci is? Maybe Mary needs a little inspiration!!