Mary J. Blige - Real Love (1992)
I've been searching for someone to satisfy my every need
Won't you be my inspiration?
Be the real love that I need
I don’t know what other corners of the country were like in the early 90s, but Massachusetts fell in love hard with Mary J. Blige in the era of What’s the 411?, a Goliath of an album that has taken a firm seat in the R&B and Hip-Hop Halls of Greatness. "Real Love” acted as the soundtrack to some of my earliest childhood memories, blaring from passing car stereos or echoing from open apartment windows. The coven of unf*ckwithable women who raised me looked at MJB as one of their tribe, and they played the song in tribute as I was shuffled to and from school or while dinner was being made.
Speaking of family, I’m not the first person to say that MJB has always felt like a wiser, worldlier relative who had been through some things, honey. You feel like you’ve known her your whole life, and man, aren’t you better for it?
A word that comes to mind often when I think of QMJB (I added “Queen” to the initials to mix things up/be accurate) is duality. She’s naturally gifted at being two things at once - simultaneously tough and feminine, hard and soft, sweet and street. Even her unofficial title, The Queen of Hip Hop Soul, has her reigning over two different genres.
“Real Love” is evidence that her gifts of familiarity and duality were there from the start. No one can hear the iconic piano riff that kicks off the song without feeling called to the dance floor. Don’t be fooled though; this song is sad af, but does a great job masking itself with buoyant chords and hip-hop samples. It reminds me of what Max Martin did with “Baby, One More Time” seven years later. That devastating three-note piano riff in particular (and the controversial school girl outfit) was meant to distract the listener from the loneliness that was killing this poor girl, but BOMT wasn’t as close to the source. You could tell that when MJB sang “Real Love,” she meant it.
This song has been a part of my music library for so long that I arrogantly thought I knew everything there was to know about it. Rookie move. MJB is never done handing out lessons.
“Real Love” features two major samples that give it that hip-hop heft:
- Audio Two, “Top Billin”
- MC Lyte, “10% Diss” (can we all take a second to give MC Lyte her flowers?)
On the flip side, “Real Love” has been sampled by a number of artists over the last few years, like Frank Ocean (“Super Rich Kids”), Ariana Grande (“Lovin’ It”) and a surprisingly pleasant offerring by K-Pop group Red Velvet called “Talk to Me.”
2. Mixing R&B and Hip-Hop Was a Big Deal
Back to my duality point: Nowadays, marrying hip-hop and R&B in a song is par for the course, but in 1992, the blending of the two was still very uncommon. Hip-hop was popular but still finding its legs. MJB was an R&B artist, but she wasn’t perfectly polished like Stephanie Mills, Chaka Khan, or Anita Baker. She was a singer that thought like a rapper, as she once said.
Her streetwear, attitude, and Bronx beginnings put her in a whole new category and people didn’t quite know what to do with her. “There’s nothing wrong with being hardcore,” she once told The New York Times. “I grew up in a neighborhood where that’s all there was. If people are looking for long dresses and high-heel shoes, they’d better look somewhere else.”
3. Sean Combs Played A Big Role
I always forget just how involved Sean Combs (aka Puff Daddy and his 14 other names) was to MJB’s early career. At 19 years old, Puff had turned his internship at Uptown Records into a full-time job as a Talent Director when the two met. He instantly recognized her as a star.
According to “Real Love” writers and producers, Cory Rooney and Mark Morales, the famous samples in the song may not have happened if Puff hadn’t intervened.
“When it came time to use [”Real Love”] for the album, I told Puffy I wanted to go back in and reproduce it. I wanted to take the sample out and replay the drums,” writer and producer Cory Rooney told Ebony. “He said, ‘No, No, No!’ I told him I wasn’t going to give away my publishing to Milk and Gears when we can play our own drums. He said, ‘That’s what makes the record dope. That’s what makes it hip-hop. Are you crazy? Don’t change it.’ Of course, I was fighting the fight and he came to the studio physically prepared to fight all of our asses that day…So, I walked out of the studio and told them don’t put my name on that bullshit. I’m thankful that they didn’t pay me any attention.”
Way before Sean John launched, Puff also had a massive influence on the young singer’s iconic fashion. “What I loved about Puff is he immediately saw — I mean, instead of a tight dress, he put a baggy Armani suit on me with some Teflon boots,” Mary told Vulture. “I wore a miniskirt sometimes, a pleated miniskirt, but I wore boots with it.”
So thank you, Puffy Daddy Diddy Puff, for the beats and the boots.
4. The Remix Is Everything
Confession: I enjoy the remix of “Real Love” even more than the original. Biggie’s verse is so much fun to rap along to. You really haven’t lived unless you’ve sung LOOK UP IN THE SKY ITS A BIRD ITS A PLANE NOPE ITS MARY JANE AINT A DAMN THING CHANGED loudly while traveling via Megabus.
What I didn’t realize is that this remix came out before Ready to Die, making Biggie’s brief but memorable verse one of the strongest indicators of what was to come for the rapper.
5. MJB Really Did Want Real Love
Though “Real Love” was written two years before MJB met with the song’s creators, she felt deeply connected to the sentiment.
“At that point in her life, she was being taken advantage of by a lot of the industry cats and a song like ‘Real Love’ described her situation,” Corey Rooney said. “One day, she said with tears in her eyes, ‘I just want a real love in my life for once’…She was so emotional back then.”
I can’t wait to see this scene acted out when they make her biopic.
I get emotional myself when I think how far MJB has come over her incredible career. She’s won nine Grammy’s and been nominated 30 times. She’s sold more than 50 million album and 25 million singles worldwide. She’s also been nominated for a Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild, and Critics Choice for her role in Mudbound. Oh, and she was featured on The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill and sang at President Obama’s inauguration. Shall I produce more receipts?
But in 1992, she was a talented, big-hearted city girl clad in armor and street smarts who just wanted to know: What’s the 411?
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