![]() What he did was he split the album in half. She went from being an artist on the shelf to Puffy literally having weeks to put an album together. It was the most popular record on the radio so Andre and everyone said it was time to put an album together right now for Mary. ![]() The song really took off and it jump started the process for Mary’s album. They came up with the record ‘You Remind Me,’ which was done by Dave Hall, who was out of Eddie F.’s Untouchables crew. When the Strictly Business soundtrack came together, Kurt Woodley told Andre that he had to give Mary a shot. They thought Mary was the next Stephanie Mills. “Kurt Woodley pressed Andre about putting her on the soundtrack for the movie. “She kind of sat around for a while and then Uptown did the movie soundtrack for the movie Strictly Business,” says Rooney. Rooney recalls how Blige wasn’t on the label’s radar until the Strictly Business movie soundtrack was in production. One of those songs that we wrote two years prior to meeting her was ‘Real Love.’ This is how it really all started.” They sent Mary over to our house and we had already written some songs. He came to us and told us that he needed our help. All of a sudden, Kurt Woodley, who used to be the A&R guy at Uptown was introduced to Mary through a guy named Jeff Redd. Everyone would just be hanging out in there. ![]() We lived in Rosedale Queens back then and we used to wake up and say let’s go drive up to Uptown. At that time, Uptown Records was the place to hang out at. “The funny thing is we actually did some work for Uptown Records,” says Rooney. ![]() Blige.’ This is how I became part of the project.” This is new direction I need for this artist named Mary J. He said, ‘That’s exactly what I’m looking for! That’s the new sound we need. One day, I was in Eddie F.’s car in the backseat and Diddy was in the front and I played my tracks. I wasn’t getting any traction with the sound because people didn’t quite understand it. At that time, New Jack Swing was prominent and he told us that his artist wasn’t New Jack Swing and that her style was a little bit grittier and a little more urban.īack then, I was experimenting with putting hip-hop beats together with R&B chord progressions. and I and said he was looking for this new type of sound for his artist. When Diddy was working on the project, he came to Eddie F. We were all from Mount Vernon, NY so we knew each other from high school. We all knew Diddy because he was the A&R of the project. “At the time, I was just a young, up and coming producer that was kind of struggling,” says Hall. Hall and Rooney reveal how they were chosen to participate in the making of the album. Twenty years later, it is highly regarded as one of the most important albums from the latter part of the 20th century.ĮBONY recently sat down with two of the main producers of the album, Dave “Jam” Hall and Cory Rooney to gain insight on the creation of such an iconic album. This week marks the 20th anniversary of the album’s release, which was hailed at the time as a success by many of the culture writers of the early 1990s for its pioneering blend of hip-hop and soul music. Her vocal prowess reigned supreme over hip-hop infused tracks with sprinkles of classic R&B, jazz, hard drum beat patterns and synths. Her singing style was reminiscent of past R&B songstresses such as Stephanie Mills, Chaka Khan and Anita Baker, but she brought something new to the table with her rugged, street girl persona and descriptive lyrical content. The release of her debut album, What’s the 411? would establish her as “the queen of hip-hop soul” and solidify her as a force to be reckoned with. There was one young artist who was on her way to reach unknown levels of superstardom. Uptown Records had become the hottest music label in the industry, as many of the era’s most prominent acts called their headquarters home. As the 1990s began, New Jack Swing was dominating urban and pop airwaves.
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