As far as men go, they never gave me a chance to be me; they were always scared that somebody was going to take me.
'Cause I'm no better than you, you, or you. And I can't get on no throne and preach, 'cause I'm not God.
Don't give up, be positive and if you know someone who knows someone at a record company don't stop beating down their door till you get heard. Don't ever say it'll never happen or it'll never happen.
Everything is scary if you look at it. So you just got to live.
I decided to start my own label because so many people with talent come to me wanting to know how they can get in the music business.
I don't really like to say things unless I know they're true, and I know Puff is my partner in this music business.
I don't want no drama in my life, even though we have a little bit, but no more letting people control you. That's drama, because then you become something that you're not.
I honor Aretha Franklin and respect her. I don't know her, but I love her because I look at my life and I see hers.
I listen to gospel music.
I listen to Lauryn Hill. I think Lauryn deserves her success. She opens doors because she's a woman and she does what we do.
I listened to Chaka Khan and I listened to Aretha, but I don't sound like them.
I love my fans. I love what I'm doing, period.
I mean, all my life, I never really thought negative about nothing. Never.
I mean, I know my heart is not clean, and your heart is not clean, and none of our urban hearts are clean. But you can be washed again.
I mean, Mary J. Blige has evolved as a person and I am from the streets, but I am Mary.
I really don't know other musicians.
I really know Puff, I don't really know Dre.
I really trust Puffs ears so we picked all the songs that would make the album together.
I'm a waiter, and I'm patient, because when God promises me something, and it's in the air and on my heart, I wait on Him. I wait and that's it.
I'm just celebrating my joy right now, my life.
I'm just celebrating the fact that I'm no longer what I was mentally and spiritually.
I'm starting my own record label.
In the studio you can really concentrate on performing the song where as on stage you also have to worry about connecting with so many people, they're definitely different.
It was great to work with Jay Z again, he's never let me down and given me a whack tune and Eve she's great and I love 50 cent, he's such a genuine person, when I met him I looked in his eyes and I knew that he is a real person and I have a lot of love for him.
It's a great honor for people to look at you and want to be like you.
It's sad that a lot of identities are lost and a lot of careers are lost because there's sort of a clone thing going on.
Living in big houses is not what I want to do with myself. It's too big for me to live alone.
My first album is playful.
Puff really knows what will make people dance where as I am more concerned about what will get people in the ribs, what will make them feel the song.
Puff, you just gotta love him for being him 'cause he makes me laugh. If you don't know him, he's gonna have you all uptight.
Right now I'm kind of cool with being single and being free.
Sometimes I hang out with the people who do my hair or my clothes.
That's my aim with everything that I did this time, not to use a bunch of stuff that everybody uses.
That's the message I want to give to every up-and-coming artist: Do everything that is going to help you later. If you clone somebody else, that's all they're gonna keep wanting from you.
The only person that I'm really feeling - because she has an identity of her own, even though she has listened to Mary J. Blige - is Jill Scott.
The streets respect me because I kept it real with me. You gotta be real with yourself, and the streets recognize game.
Then 20 years old rolled around and I was still doing stupid stuff.
Then my life crashed and burned down: trials, men, drama, no self-love, no identity. A little identity, but not a lot of love for myself, my life.
There's not enough time to be disrespecting... Life is too short.
This album, I'm back. Everything is behind me - now come have a good time with me.
Well, I mean, it was the physical relationship with this human being that gave me a reason to live.
When I was little, like 7 to 15, there was nothing I wanted to do but go to church and go to school.
When you go to a club, you want everyone to dance. I'm just asking everybody to dance for me, enjoy this moment.
Working in the studio is a more personal experience whereas on stage in front of a billion people, it's more exciting performing live.
Working with Jimmy and Terry is always kind of personal, because they always seem to know what's going on with me in my life at that point.
You demand respect and you'll get it. First of all, you give respect.
You gotta take what you need, love them and respect them, and build your own foundation with it.
Mary has performed "One" with Elliott Yamin during the fifth season finale of American Idol.
At the 49th Annual Grammy Awards, Mary was the artist with the most number of nominations for the year, eight, and winning three: Best R&B Album (The Breakthrough), Best R&B Song and Best R&B Vocal Performance (Be Without You).
Mary appears in Notorious B.I.G.'s videos "One More Chance" and "Big Poppa".
Mary has her own label called Matriarch.
Mary gave a very expensive watch to Ellen DeGeneres on the latter's talk show.
The title track to Mary's song "No More Drama" samples from the theme song to The Young and the Restless.
Mary is married to Kendu Isaacs since December 7, 2003. They dont have kids together, but she is the stepmother of Kendu's three children.
Her hit song and music video Be Without You from her latest double platinum selling album Breakthrough, retired from BET's 106 & Park after 65 consecutive days of being on the countdown.
She never graduated from high school.
Her albums My Life, Share My World, No More Drama and The Breakthrough were all certified 3x Platinum, each selling over 3 million copies in the US only.
She was a Directory Assistance operator before her singing career, which inspired her to name her first album What's The 411?.
Mary is a six-time Grammy Award winner and a was nominated twenty-three times.
She is recently 5'9".
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