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 What's the 411? Remix, 1992
MJB: "Wow. I had just moved to New Jersey, I was on my second apartment. Puff brought over the remix album and he played the remix with Heavy D. on it — [Sings] 'What you gonna do without my love.' I lost my mind. I cried. I did everything that a person could do when they are excited about something.
"And 'Real Love,' oh man. It's crazy to go to a club and the remix with Biggie on it still drives everybody crazy and has everybody running to the dance floor, singing along as though it was 1992. It's crazy that record is still that powerful today."
RATING: "I would definitely give that remix album a 10.
 My Life, 1994
MJB: "With the My Life album, you know, I gotta really, really give it to Puff. He knew what I was, so he delivered tracks that were me. He studied me and brought things that he knew were going to make me just scream and act stupid.
"So when we first started, Puff bought me a track from Chucky [Thompson, producer] that everybody forgets about, 'Be With You.' And it was so crazy and grimy — heavy bass, big beats, big drums — that I began to write right there. I was so miserable, I began to write what I was dealing with right there. And each and every record from that point was based on me writing whatever I was dealing with, because that's what the music did: The music gave me a better misery. It was incredible how each and every song came with the undertone of misery.
" 'My Life' is based on love of the Roy Ayers song [the oft-sampled 'Everybody Loves the Sunshine']. The original is amazing, it always made me feel like I wanted to live and die like I didn't know which one I wanted to do — I would just spin out of control. So I began to write. I wrote that song with a girl by the name of Arlene DelValle, and we both were miserable writing that record together — and happy, too. We really, really wanted to be happy like we were miserable.
"I always thought I was the only person going through something — this is why I speak so freely and loudly about things now, because I had no idea there were so many people with me who were miserable like that. I found out by performing at shows and people coming up to me saying, 'Mary! This album, girl! I'm going through the same thing!' I was bugging out — people were having the exact same situations. Females in abusive relationships, men who were abusing their wives or their girlfriends, walking up to me going, 'Yo, you started some trouble in my house.' It's not me; it's the records. But the people made that record with me. That's my favorite album, by the way."
RATING: "I would give My Life a 10. That record is the epitome of what we're going through. It's so much pain, it's like a workout. To get through that much pain is a workout. You understand what I'm saying?"
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Photo: Getty Images
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