I'd heard Mary J. Blige's debut single, "You Remind Me," on the radio back in 1992, and I liked it well enough. It was a pleasant R&B ballad with a nice hook. But it didn't bowl me over.
And then her second single from What's the 411? dropped.
I'd never heard anything quite like "Real Love" before.
Before 1992, if a song came at you with that kind of streetwise beat, you pretty much knew someone was going to be rapping, not singing, over it. But here was this beautiful, young voice, singing about her quest for true affection with this hip-hop backdrop (sampled from the classic track "Top Billin'" by Audio Two, which itself is built on a cleverly chopped up sample from "Impeach the President" by the Honey Drippers.) Her delivery was warm and sincere, yet it also had a ton of grit; it was like listening to a hip-hop Etta James.
Although I think Blige truly came into her own on 1994's My Life, which is a stronger collection of songs overall compared to What's the 411?, "Real Love" is still the touchstone that defines the career of the "Queen of Hip-Hop Soul" for me.
Generally, I'm not a fan of remixes. I feel that, if an artist and/or producer conceived a track a certain way, they don't need some DJ screwing with their vision after the fact.
Then again, there are certain songs that are exponentially improved by a remix. "I'll Be There for You / You're All I Need to Get By - Razor Sharp Mix" is one of those cases.
The original track, titled "All I Need" on Method Man's solo debut Tical (1994), was solid: it has his raw verse over the breakbeat from Melvin Bliss's "Synthetic Substitution" (think: Ultramagnetic MC's "Ego Trippin'" and Naughty By Nature's "O.P.P.") and a synth replaying the descending cadence from Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell's "You're All I Need to Get By." And then there was Sean "Puff Daddy" Combs's mix of the song, which used a clip from Notorious B.I.G.'s "Me & My Bitch" over a smooth, R&B-flavored rhythm track, and also added to the equation Mary J. Blige on backing vocal.
But the "Razor Sharp Mix" by Wu Tang's RZA takes this song to a new galaxy altogether. It uses Method Man's original lyric from "All I Need" but sets it to a gritty, thumping beat and hypnotic bassline over these weirdly dissonant samples of sax and organ. Once again, Blige provides backing vocals throughout and vocals on the hook. But this time out, she alters Gaye and Terrell's refrain by shifting it to a minor key. Against the backdrop of the beat and bass (which, by the way, is playing in a slightly different key), the original sweetness of the lyric takes on a dangerous, almost ominous, quality.
Taking each piece individually, it shouldn't work.
It's like the horns on James Brown's "I Got You (I Feel Good)": the song is in D major, yet Brown has the horns slipping into notes that aren't even in the same key signature! On paper, it should sound like the aural equivalent of day-old garbage baking curbside in the New York City summer sun. But in reality, it blends perfectly.
Such is the case here. RZA took a calculated risk, and it paid off with one of the rawest, best-ever collaborations/remixes/tracks in the history of hip hop.
