Real Love (Mary J. Blige song)

"Real Love" is a 1992 hit single by hip hop soul singer Mary J. Blige. It was the second single off Blige's debut album, What's the 411?. Written and produced by Mark C. Rooney and Mark Morales (of The Fat Boys fame) and built off a drum sample from Audio Two's 1988 hip hop classic, "Top Billin'," it was one of the songs that helped define Blige as "the queen of hip-hop soul."

"Real Love" was her first top-ten pop hit, peaking at #7 on the Billboard Hot 100, as well as her second #1 hit on Billboard's R&B singles chart. The remix featured the first appearance of famed rapper The Notorious B.I.G., who was then going by the name Big E. Smalls, and a sample of Betty Wright's 1972 single, "Clean-Up Woman." The song eventually helped What's the 411? sell more than three million copies in America alone.

The song has since been covered by Mike Doughty (on his 2000 LP Skittish) and Toby Lightman (on her 2004 album Little Things), as well as by a dancehall artist by the name of Fiona.

In 2007, the song was sampled on "Real Love", an album-track that appears on rapper/singer Eve's album Here I Am which features Mary J. Blige herself. In addition Lloyd Banks sampled the drum beat on his single Help which featured Keri Hilson

[edit] Track listing

Album Version
Hip Hop Mix feat. The Notorious B.I.G.
Acappella Version
Hip-Hop Club Mix
Instrumental

Preceded by "Alone With You" by Tevin Campbell	Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs number one single October 17, 1992	Succeeded by "Right Now" by Al B. Sure!