Mary J. Blige - What's The 411? (25th Anniversary)

Perhaps the true test of a classic is this: something that's commonplace now but at the time appeared revolutionary. The notion that a female R&B singer could be as informed by the Real Roxanne as she was by Aretha Franklin, that she could give love to the streets and the roughnecks - while still delivering soul-drenched love songs that came from that wounded womanly space - was, in a word, groundbreaking.

It was the sound of the New Jills, and of a new genre, aptly called hip-hop soul. Featuring production from a then-upstart Sean 'Puffy Daddy' Combs, and a collection of songs that alternately swagger and seduce, "You Remind Me," "Real Love," "Reminisce".

25th Anniversary Edition. Heavyweight double vinyl produced by Geffen Records in 2017. Remastered from the original sources and spread over two LPs for the first time ever.