In the times when being a diva becomes more or less a caricature, Mary J. Blige proves with her 2003 album "Love & Life" that she is still up there at the top of contemporary r&b. On this, not less than a sixth regular album since the 1992 breakthrough debut "What's The 411", the songstress teams up again with Sean (P.Diddy) Combs, with who she collaborated on the 1994 release "My Life", still considered by many to be her best.

Times have changed but she still sounds fresh and groovy. "Love & Life" does not include such killer singles as the previous album's title track "No More Drama" or the stellar Dr. Dre-produced "Family Affair", but, for that matter, is more consistent. Starts with a unique, movie-like intro in which Mary is getting a call from P.Diddy, before Jay-Z gets his rap job done. Follows the first 'normal' track, "Don't Go", which pretty representatively sets the mood for the entire, 70-minute album.

The catchy first single "Love @ First Sight" with Method Man cleverly employs an eloquent bass line, before being replaced in loudspeakers by relaxed, summer-y feel of "Willing & Waiting". Mary's voice is again full of raw emotions, as on "When We" and "Friends", the album again offers great beats (Eve collaboration "Not Today" or "It's A Wrap"). "Ooh!" follows the footsteps of Aretha Franklin, pounding "Press On" is downright glorious, a cream of Blige, as is positively erotic "Feel Like Makin' Love". The record's end simmers down to ballad territory, in which the singer relishes, apparently drawing from her personal life.

With "Love & Life", Mary J. Blige easily outshined the other, currently more successfuly sold R&B female artists, who may produce great singles (Beyonce, Ashanti) but only uneven albums. Blige remains the real premiere urban diva of her generation and this recording will go down as one of her very best.

I don't know why this cd is the one of Mary J's that just seems to get ignored? I just bought it recently and I have to say it is very good. I was at a MJB concert recently and hardly any of the fans siting near me had even heard or bought this cd. Which surprised me as it went to #1! Its got dance songs, ballads, passionate songs a little bit of it all and I reccommend it to anyone who likes Mary but dont own it. Mostly everyone likes Whats THe 411 and I agree its a great cd but this cd is just about as good... of course my favorite is her new cd The Breakthrough...but this cd is very close to the same type sound....give it a shot!

After the big success of her 2001/2002, Grammy award winning album "No more drama", Mary is back with this excellent production.
On "Love & Life" you'll find a Mary more concentrated on love songs, songs with more affection if we compare this album with her others, but Mary doesn't leave fun behind either.
The first single was "Love at first sight" which became a Top 20 hit, follwed by "Ooh!" a song with an excellent performance from Mary. The song climmed to #34. And finally the lastest single was "Not today" next to Eve.
This album has special appearences from Jay Z, P. Diddy (who also produced the album next to Mary), 50 Cent, Eve and Method Man.
"Love & Life" debuted at #1 and has been certified Platinum, with this Mary prooves that she's still the Queen. She's really good and her voice is amazing, there are some songs in this album where you can feel her crying while singing the songs and when she wants to make you party she does it also very good.

From my point of view the best songs are: "Love & life", "Not today", "Ooh!", "Let me be the 1", "Feel like makin' love", "Special part of me" and "Love at first sight".

Mary hasn't brought her A-game to the table for quite a long time. No More Drama was supposed to be just that-- the end of drama in Mary's life (personally and professionally) but obviously from the vibe of this CD and other things in her releases previously, NMD must have meant no more drama for 2001. With this CD, there is a little more promise but she's lost the "thing" that made Mary J Blige. In reality she hasn't been all about that "thing" since MARY, maybe even back as far as SHARE MY WORLD. She's just got to do better... she's MARY J BLIGE

On Mary's newest album LOVE AND LIFE, she teamed up with Sean Combs who helped make her first two albums a success. Obviously, the public is not responding well to this reconciliation, because the album is not doing too well. The album has already had three singles and has not even been out yet for 6 months. The latest single, "Not Today", featuring Eve, is so far the most successful. "Love At First Sight" and "Oooh" flopped big time. The music on the album is not bad, but overproduced. Some of the sampling works in favor of the songs, but other times it just works against it. I hope Mary finds herself on her next album, because this and NO MORE DRAMA were very weak compared to albums like MARY, MY LIFE or SHARE MY WORLD. Highlights from this include "When We", "Oooh", "Friends", "Willing and Waiting", and a few others, but there's too many songs here that sound the same, and ultimately it's a pretty forgettable album.