This came out in 1999 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
“I’m just plain ol’ Mary,” proclaims hip-hop diva Mary J. Blige on Deep Inside, the third track on her eponymously titled fifth album.
And as befits the title and Mary’s claims, this is Blige’s most casual and intimate offering yet, light on annoying diva histronics and heavy on sweet urban soul, flowing melodies and irresistible hooks. And despite her assertion that “I don’t have many friends,” she didn’t seem to have trouble enticing a who’s who of pop (Elton John, Eric Clapton, even Aretha Franklin) into the studio to add a few licks and lyrics here and there. They make it clear that no matter what she says, Mary — the album, the singer and the woman — is anything but plain.
