No More Drama

by

Mary J. Blige

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OK, before I review this re release of "No More Drama", I would like to make a few points relating to this CD. 1) When you re release a CD, I thought you were supposed to keep all the songs from the initial release and then add bonus tracks. On the re release [...], they list the original 17 songs and then [...it] has the 4 new tracks as track numbers 18-21. This could be true but in music stores and retail outlets, Track #4 from the initial release, "Krazy Games" is replaced by the new track, "He Think I Don't Know". Track #7, the Rocwilder produced, "Keep It Movin'" is replaced by "Rainy Dayz" w/Ja Rule. Track #8, "Destiny" is left off of the re release and "Where I've Been" w/Eve is bumped up from #9 to be #8. "Beautiful Day" is bumped up from #10 to be #9 on the re release. "Dance For Me" which was #11 moves up to #10 and the P Diddy remix of "No More Drama" is now #11. The two negatives about this are 1) You are already asking the consumer to pay for the price of the CD again by re releasing "No More Drama" and 2) You are also penalizing the consumer by not allowing them to have all of the songs, including the newly added tracks, all on one CD. If you didn't buy the initial "No More Drama" and you buy the re release you won't have 3 songs that are on the original release but you will have the two new tracks and the two new remixes. This may not be important to everyone, but if you are a fan of music like I am then you will understand where I am coming from. "No More Drama" is a refreshing new sound from Mary J. Those of you that have listened to all of her CDs know the road that Mary J can take you down. Whether it was from the "My Life" CD or whether it was from songs like "The Love I Never Had", "Your Child" or "Not Lookin'" w/K- Ci, we all know Mary J can show us a depressing side of herself. With "No More Drama", she shows us a sense of positivity that we haven't seen from her in awhile, although she did show signs with "Share My World". This is completely evident by the Dr. Dre produced first single, "Family Affair". Although, Mary J does invent a new vocabulary laced with words like "hateration", "hollaratin'" and "perculatin'", her message still gets the point across. Leave all your drama and worries behind and have a good time. On the Neptunes produced, "Steal Away", Mary is joined by a falsetto styled, Pharrell Williams, for a nice collaboration. It sounds like an old school song from years ago. The 2nd single, "No More Drama" is one of the CD's better tracks. The Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis produced track uses a sample from the soap opera "The Young & The Restless" to create a good song for MJB. The new track "Rainy Dayz" featuring Ja Rule sounds as if it was a theme for 9/11 and all the tragic events that happened in NY and at the Pentagon. Ja Rule provides a rap and some harmonies to the song as well. Irv Gotti also did a good job with the production. The new slow song "He Think I Don't Know" falls in the same lines of a "Your Child" or a "Don't Waste Your Time" on the "Mary" CD. It's not groundbreaking material but fans of Mary J Blige will enjoy this song, especially if they like Mary J Blige slow songs as much as I do. P Diddy's remix to "No More Drama" is a nice track, in my opinion. The lyrics and beat are totally different from the original version and it's nice to hear Mary and P Diddy together again. Other standout tracks include, "Love", the Missy Elliott produced "Never Been", the inspirational "Where I've Been" w/Eve, "In The Meantime", and "Testimony". If you are a Mary J fan then you have heard this all before, but it is nice to see that Mary J can put her troubles behind and move on with her life. You can actually sense that just by listening to this CD.

I hate to compare music artists' work to previous works but honestly I did just that with this project. This was the first album of MJB's that I didn't rush out and get on the release date. I did not buy it till after 'NO MORE DRAMA' was released as a single then after listening to it as a whole, I felt like this was a mini step backwards given how much I loved her previous album, 'Mary'.

To this day, I really only bump 5 songs constantly:

NO MORE DRAMA: one of the best modern r&b songs ever produced in my opinion

STEAL AWAY: love Pharrell's vocals & the Neptunes production; my only gripe? It's too short

LOVE - banger, loved hearing her perform this live as well!

FAMILY AFFAIR - this one had to grow on me but it's a hot track

RAINY DAYZ - I just love this song, the beats are hot, JaRule sounds great as does MJB

Other songs that I like but don't listen to on the regular are:

HE THINK I DON'T KNOW - really soulful sound to her voice

NO MORE DRAMA (remix) - whereas the original is more of an uplifting anthem, this version makes me want to dance & is very upbeat

NEVER BEEN - although Missy Elliot is all over this track & she's not my favorite MC, I still enjoy this song

The others are somewhat enjoyable but not really memorable so I consider them more filler and skip them. Like I said, as a fan, I'm not really sure what MJB was trying to accomplish with this disc but I found it more of a "miss" than a "hit" but the massive success of the leading 3 tracks: 'FAMILY AFFAIR', 'NO MORE DRAMA', & 'RAINY DAYZ' helped power the disc to multi-platinum status. I can only recommend that die-hard fans get this disc otherwise download the tracks you like.