Every Monday, we introduce and reintroduce you to artists in Africa and in the Diaspora who are doing great things within the world of music.  Our hopes are that with each 'fresh vibes', you are better informed about these artists and you go looking for their music.

Before , getting into the nitty gritty of today's fresh vibes, a couple of quick announcements:

a) Our December Edition of this site will be up on  December 11th at 6pm EST. 

b) We got an email from a Jennifer L which goes like this , "

We would love to share with you an article that we just posted on our own blog! “*8 Countries that Celebrate a Day of Thanks*” is linked below and could be a fun way to share this announcement with your readers. thanks It has been a sincere pleasure to read your great content." . Of course, though Thanksgiving is officially over but we will always have new reasons to give thanks. So check out her blog. Hopefully, it isn't spam..:-s!

c) Next, anyone started their Christmas shopping yet....? Anyone seen that green grinchy creature hanging out in their homes...;-) Just had to ask...:-p

Okay, now to the review:

Mary J. Blige's most recent CD is called My Life II...The Journey Continues (Act 1) which has about seventeen (17)songs and are all really Mary J. Blige. As usual, Mary sings about life and life issues.

1) 25/8 (3.55) - this is a love song to a guy - a song of appreciation to a guy that has shown her so much love. I think it is such a cute song - '24 hours aren't enough, 7 days aren't enough - so the days and hours are extended to appreciate this man that is always there for her and has her back. Wow! That's some appreciation. I think many black women do not spend time -saying to their men that they appreciate him, I won't go into the reason this occurs . We will just keep it on a positive note. But, wow..really grooving to these sounds. This is straight up R and B.

enjoy -

2) Mr Wrong (4.01) - This song is a mixture of hip hop and soul. It also features a male and female view on the relatiosnhip.  We love that. You get to see how each gender views the same relationship. The man starts off first by admitting that he is mr wrong but he mentions, that 'she is unable to keep a grudge' maybe that's what keeps them together. She starts of admitting that he is mr wrong and yes, he breaks her heart so bad but they have something special going on. Excuse me as I roll my eyes and proceed to puke. She goes on to say that she loves her mr wrong. She goes on to talk about how he puts it on her. Yes, that could be the only reason that she loves her mr wrong. The Sex.After rolling my eyes several times,I had to admit that this is reality - many of us have dated a mr wrong or ms wrong at one time or the other and after the relationship ran its course (like duh of course, it won't work) - you ask yourself what were you thinking but during that period in which you two were in a 'relationship',it was just you two - you knowing he or she is wrong but 'you get along so good and you understand his/her badness and that person puts it on you the right way or wrong way and you try to make it work.

This song is The truth - listen to it.

3) Why (4.21)- Another love song with a woman confused again about her relationship. In this case - she is asking why they can't get it right. This song is also a mixture of hip hop and soul. These two are really trying to get it right. Ever been in a relationship in which everything was right? You had that deep feeling that this person was IT but you realize that for some reason - you two can't get it right. You build the relationship to break it. At the end of the day, you realize that it might be better for you two to actually go your seperate ways even though you are RIGHT for each other because you two can't continue with the pattern of break up to make up.

That's what this song is about. Yes. Yes.

4) Empty prayers (3.15)- R and B.  " I try my best to keep you here but it's hard to hold a shadow....you left me on my knees, you just walked out the door, you didn't have the decency..." This is a deep song. "I was asking, begging, for a sign". You left me on my knees..This is my favorite song on the whole cd. Can't explain. Just listen to it.

As usual, when we do a review of songs, we only choose 3 to 4 songs on here with the hopes that we wet your appetite and you go and buy it.

Our thoughts on this cd - definitely a buy - 4 out of 5.   Why 4 out of 5 you ask? - well, the whole tale of abandonment and love in crisis, gets tiring after a while but you do get to enjoy Mary's voice, depth and grit in this CD. So go and buy it and support this artist.