TLC: Crazysexycool (LaFace/Arista): Mary J. Blige: My Life (Uptown/MCA)
Amy Linden, Request, February 1995
WRITER F. SCOTT Fitzgerald once said there are no second acts in American Life, but had he been in the pop-music business, he might have said there are no second chances in black music. The urban consumer takes no shorts and expects a hit each time an artist releases an album. So it wouldn't have been all that surprising had Mary J. Blige and TLC decided not to mess with the multiplatinum success of What's the 411 and Oooooooh... On the TLC Tip. But they opted to flip the script, and My Life and Crazysexycool are not only good albums, but differ significantly from the artists' earlier work.
Total word count of piece: 453
