Give her 50 feet, K-Ci. Mary’s got this.

There are times when I randomly burst into song and start singing the likes, “You told me a thousand times/That you would be mine, all mine,” for absolutely no reason at all.

Sometimes other people on the street join in, while others grab their purses and walk swiftly past me.

If you’re an old Mary J. Blige fan then you know there’s nothing like “I Don’t Want To Do Anything” – the Queen’s classic duet with ex-boyfriend, K-Ci Haley (ooh yeah) of Jodeci.

But, you also know that K-Ci was the Chris Brown of the 90s, which means Mary isn’t too fond of him. While the two did go on to collaborate once again at the close of the last decade, what are the chances of Mary performing her classic hit with one of the skinniest men alive.

Essence.com has the answer:

Will you ever sing “I Don’t Want to Do Anything Else” [her duet with Jodeci's K-Ci] live again? Angela Ervin—Greensboro, North Carolina

Mary J. Blige: No. I mean, if I sing it with someone else, yes.

Isn’t that a blip? Now since we’re already down memory lane, another fan sent in a question about former ex-rival, Faith Evans.

I always wondered why, and I’m not hating on Faith Evans (I love her too), but were you to be the First Lady of Bad Boy?—Erica Neal,Columbus, Ohio

Mary J. Blige: If I wasn’t signed to MCA, it could have been me, which I believe Puff would have wanted. But I understand Puff is a businessman, so he had to go get his First Lady, which I understand. It took me a couple of years to understand, but you know, after a while I was like, “Oh, okay. He had to do that,” because he didn’t have a female artist over there.

Oh and if you’re wondering if Aunt Mary is trying to compete with the youngins, she said:

“I don’t compete with the young generation, I learn from them. I listen to what they’re saying, so I can get a little bit of that, so we can cross, so we can have an understanding and hear each other.”

First lesson from the youth of America: Drake + Autotune = radio airplay.

Source

It’s a good read but Faith uses a lot of ink to repeatedly tell readers how little she knew about many things going on around her. I know she was young at the time but it’s hard to believe that someone who appears to possess a good blend of book sense and street smarts was as naive as the book paints her.

Although she was on the same label as Notorious B.I.G., she had no idea he was about to blow up like the World Trade, to use a Biggie phrase. And for the record, they married two months after meeting – not nine days as had been widely reported. She
didn’t realize for quite some time that her husband was knockin’ boots with Lil’ Kim; she thought the two just had a brother-sister relationship like the pint-size rapper told her. (She later gives Lil’ Kim, and other women she suspects of sleeping with Biggie, a beat down.)

The whole mess with Tupac is incredulous. She writes that she told Biggie and her manager at Bad Boy that she planned to to record a song with Tupac. Nobody had issues with it.

“…I was confused about why no one warned me about ‘Pac. Before I was in L.A., something was brewing. I didn’t know that ‘Pac was signed to Death Row and was running with Suge. And no one told me. If I’d had any suspicions, things would have turned out differently.”

By all appearances she and Tupac went to the “Waiting to Exhale” soundtrack release party together. But Faith writes that Tupac called her on her cell phone as her limo neared the drop-off area for the red carpet.
I told him I was at a party for the soundtrack.

“Word?” he said. “I’m here, too! Where are you?”

I looked out the car window, and there he was. He made a bee-line for the car, opened up the door, and jumped in the backseat with us. We were already very close to the drop-off spot for the red carpet; we would only be in the car for another minute or two. But I was still very uncomfortable. I wasn’t planning on hanging out with ’Pac… I wanted to walk up to each person and tell them: I’m not actually with Tupac. He just jumped in my car a few minutes ago. And I met him for the first time yesterday.

An uninvited Tupac slid up a chair at her table at the party.
I saw Whitney Houston from across the room, and she gave me a look that said ‘Oh word? You’re with him?’ And my heart sank.

After the party Tupac waited at her limo to hitch a ride back to his hotel, where Faith was headed for a party.

It was not until a few days later when she went to record with ‘Pac – he picked her up in a black, convertible Benz with the top down for all the world to see them together rather than send a car for her like he promised – that she realized he was with Death Row Records.

If I had known that Suge Knight had anything whatsoever to do with Tupac and hiring me as a vocalist, I would never in a million years have agreed to it.

She writes that she didn’t have the guts to leave the studio once she realized she was at Death Row. She did what she had to – and never received her $25,000 fee.

As for her drug use, she writes:
I’ve been very open in this book about my occasional use of marijuana. Like most people, I’ve experimented here and there with lots of things. And although the picture of me painted in the media after my arrest was that of a drug addict, nothing could be farther from the truth.
Some might argue the same about parts of the book.

Faith and son Christopher “CJ” Wallace Jr. at the wrap party for the forthcoming flick about Biggie’s life called “Notorious.” That kid has Biggie written all over his face.