On this largely tensionless work, one wishes Blige would bring the drama, or at least a dramatic-sounding track on the order of "Be Without You" or "Family Affair." Sadly, the production is exceedingly conservative, with the exception of "Come to Me (Peace)," the album's electronic-accented closer. Why she would trust a heterosexual man's taste on these matters is a mystery, but no matter. Boy, buy me a bag, or buy me some shoes," she begs.
So be patient with my shortcomings." (A reference to her alleged steroids use, perhaps?) "Feel Like a Woman," is an anti-feminist ballad: "If you're on your way home, stop and buy me something. Blige Be Without You sheet music notes and chords arranged for Real Book Melody & Chords. "You know love is a process," she sings on "Talk to Me," "and it ain't gonna happen overnight. The album functions mainly as relationship therapy. Blige plays things safe on her own new blockbuster CD, Growing Pains. In subsequent decades, the soul-baring singer has also shown a special magnificence when helming emotional anthems of survival and resilience. Like Alicia Keys on her recent chart-topper As I Am, Mary J. Blige became the Queen of Hip-Hop Soul when her 1992 debut, Whats the 411, played matchmaker to a couple of hitherto flirtatious genres by stacking R&B power-ballad vocals onto hip-hop beats. With hip-hop increasingly a boys-only drug cartel, it's not surprising that the top urban hit makers are increasingly females in the R&B genre.