What's the 411? is the debut album by American R&B singer Mary J. Blige. It was released on July 28, 1992, by Uptown Records and MCA Records. After signing a record contract with Uptown, Blige began working on the album with producer Sean "Puffy" Combs. Other producers and songwriters included DeVante Swing, Tony Dofat, Dave Hall, Mark Morales and Mark "Cory" Rooney. The resulting music covered hip hop soul, contemporary R&B, and new jack swing styles.

What's the 411? was also met with positive reviews from critics, who applauded Blige's singing and the combination of hip hop and soul music, which led to her being named the "Queen of Hip Hop Soul". The album peaked at number six on the US Billboard 200 and topped the US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. Redd then sent it to the president and chief executive officer of the label, Andre Harrell. Blige met with Harrell in 1990 and performed the song for him. She was signed to Uptown and became the label's youngest and third female recording artist (after Finesse N' Synquis).

Recording

After being signed to Uptown Records, Blige began working with record producer Puff Daddy. The title, What's the 411?, derived from Blige's past occupation as a 4-1-1 operator; it was also an indication by Blige of being the "real deal". The music was described as "revelatory on a frequent basis". A cover of Chaka Khan's "Sweet Thing" followed.

Release and promotion

What's the 411? was released on July 28, 1992. It also peaked at number 53 on the UK Albums Chart. The first single released to promote the album was "You Remind Me", originally from 1991 film Strictly Business. It reached the number 29 position on the pop charts and number 1 on the R&B charts in 1992. The next single, "Real Love" (#7 pop, #1 R&B, 1992), made Blige one of the year's biggest crossover successes. Reporting on the album's commercial success for Entertainment Weekly that year, Dave DiMartino said Blige's "powerful, soulful voice and hip-hop attitude" made her "solidly connected with an audience that has never seen a woman do new jack swing but loves it just the same". The following year, a remix album was released to further market What's the 411?, while "Sweet Thing" reached number 28 on the pop charts as a single.

In 2000, What's the 411? was certified triple platinum by the RIAA for shipments of over three million copies. As of July 2022, it has sold 3.5 million copies in the United States.

Creation of hip hop soul

The release of this album would influence a larger wave within the hip-hop sphere, specifically championing the hip-hop soul genre. Daphne Brooks writes about the change this album evoked in her article, crediting Blige with pioneering the "hip-hop soul" sound, which combines the grit and rhythm of hip-hop with the emotional depth of traditional R&B. She goes on to explain that this fusion provided a platform for voicing the struggles and triumphs of young Black women in urban America. The album features an emphasized vulnerability and raw sound from Blige that would eventually come to be a staple sound in the hip-hop soul genre. What's the 411 is able to achieve the fused sound between hip-hop and R&B through this vocal sound as well as the lyrical content of the album. Blige conveys themes and stories of desire, betrayal, abandonment, affairs, marriage, domesticity, spirituality, sisterhood, and emotional violence. Before the release of this album, these storylines that represent experiences more relevant to Black women were rarely expressed in mainstream hip-hop. As a result, this album sparked a sub-genre that was based on hip-hop aesthetics, bass, and artists while appealing to a more female-dominated audience.

Critical reception

What's the 411? received positive reviews from contemporary critics. Reviewing the album for Entertainment Weekly in 1992, Havelock Nelson hailed it as "one of the most accomplished fusions of soul values and hip-hop to date" while comparing Blige's "powerful voice" to Khan, Anita Baker, and Caron Wheeler. People magazine said the album succeeded because of Blige's "fly-girl attitude" and singing ability, even though "she may not be Chaka Khan or Gladys Knight". Mitchell May was more critical in the Chicago Tribune, writing that aside from the title track and "Sweet Thing", What's the 411? was marred by dull production and "silly lyrics" depriving the singer of self-esteem. Village Voice critic Robert Christgau was largely unimpressed, grading the album a "dud" in his consumer guide. He later upgraded his score to a one-star honorable mention—indicating "a worthy effort that consumers attuned to its overriding aesthetic or individual vision may well like"; he named "Sweet Thing" and "Real Love" as highlights while writing that "real is not enough, but attached to the right voice it's something to build on". It also earned Blige two Soul Train Music Awards in 1993: Best New R&B Artist and Best R&B Album, Female.

What's the 411? has since been viewed by critics as one of the 1990s' most important records. With the album, she was dubbed the reigning "Queen of Hip Hop Soul", Stanton Swihart wrote in a retrospective review for AllMusic. He called it "the decade's most explosive, coming-out displays of pure singing prowess". In The Rolling Stone Album Guide (2004), Tom Moon wrote that with the album, Blige offered "a gritty undertone and a realism missing from much of the devotional love songs ruling the charts at that time."

Track listing

Notes

  • <sup></sup> denotes co-producer

Sample credits

  • "Leave a Message (Intro)" contains a sample of "P.S.K. – What Does It Mean?" as performed by Schoolly D.
  • "Reminisce" contains a sample of "Stop, Look, Listen" as performed by MC Lyte.
  • "Real Love" contains a sample of "Top Billin'" as performed by Audio Two.
  • "You Remind Me" contains a sample of "Remind Me" as performed by Patrice Rushen.
  • "Intro Talk (Interlude)" contains a sample of "Hydra" as performed by Grover Washington, Jr.
  • "Sweet Thing" is a cover of "Sweet Thing" as performed by Rufus and Chaka Khan.
  • "Changes I've Been Going Through" contains a sample of "Make the Music With Your Mouth, Biz" as performed by Biz Markie.
  • "What's the 411?" contains a sample of "Pride and Vanity" as performed by the Ohio Players; "Very Special" as performed by Debra Laws.

Personnel

  • Mary J. Blige – vocals, background vocals
  • Tabitha Brace – background vocals
  • Jamie Brown – engineer
  • Puff Daddy – producer
  • Tony Dofat – producer, performer
  • Steven Ett – engineer
  • Mike Fonda – engineer
  • Grand Puba – background vocals, vocal harmony, performer
  • Andy Grassi – engineer
  • Cedric "K-Ci" Hailey – vocal harmony, performer
  • Dave Hall – drums, keyboards, producer
  • Andre Harrell – engineer
  • Kurt Juice – drums
  • David Kennedy – engineer
  • Clark Kent – engineer
  • Billy Lawrence – background vocals
  • Little Shawn – background vocals
  • Tony Maserati – engineer
  • Mark Morales A.K.A Prince Markie Dee – producer, drum machine
  • Darryl Pearson – multi-instruments
  • Gordon Picket – programming
  • Mark C. Rooney – keyboards, background vocals, producer
  • Terri Robinson – background vocals
  • Busta Rhymes
  • CL Smooth – background vocals
  • DeVante Swing – keyboards, multi-instruments, producer
  • Christopher Williams – background vocals

Charts

Weekly charts

{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;"

|+ Weekly chart performance for What's the 411?

! scope="col"| Chart (1992)

! scope="col"| Peak<br/>position

|-

|-

|-

|}

Year-end charts

{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"

|+ Year-end chart performance for What's the 411?

! scope="col"| Chart (1992)

! scope="col"| Position

|-

! scope="row"| US Billboard 200

| style="text-align:center;"|72

|-

! scope="row"| US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard)

| style="text-align:center;"|26

|-

! scope="col"| Chart (1993)

! scope="col"| Position

|-

! scope="row"| US Billboard 200

| style="text-align:center;"|36

|-

! scope="row"| US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard)

| style="text-align:center;"|9

|}

Certifications

See also

  • List of number-one R&B albums of 1992 (U.S.)
  • What's the 411? Remix

Notes

References

  • What's the 411? at Discogs