Mary J. Blige has spent the past few days rolling out details to her forthcoming 13th studio album Strength Of A Woman, revealing its cover, release date & tracklist in the process, but now we finally have some new music. On Thursday night, Mary went ahead & gave Funk Flex the green light to premiere her highly anticipated intro record with Kanye West on Hot 97 called “Love Yourself.”
“‘Love Yourself’ is hardcore hip-hop soul,” Mary tells Angie Martinez about the collab. “It’s me talking to myself when I was in it. ‘Don’t give up. Love yourself.’ When you hear the words, you’ll hear it…I’m a fan of Kanye. I’ve always loved Kanye. I’ve always wanted to work with Kanye. I reached out to his manager, got a number on him, began to text him back and forth about how I really wanted him on ‘Love Yourself'."
Available on iTunes at midnight, take a listen to the soulful new collab and share your thoughts on it (below). Did Kanye deliver with his verse or nah?
Quotable Lyrics:
I decided not to use my color as a handicap
He a designer, artist, producer, and he rap
Never found virtue from patience
In a dark room just pacin'
Precious time is just wastin'
You do not know what we facin'
I cannot be complacent
- Yeezy