Mary J. Blige could be turning another Dr. Dre track up high soon.
In a recent interview with TMZ, the hip-hop mogul, who orchestrated getting the biggest names in hip-hop to perform at the Super Bowl LVI Halftime Show, hinted at plans to record new music with the reigning Queen of Hip-Hop Soul.
When asked about the reaction from co-headliners after the big performance, Dr. Dre told hosts that Blige stopped by his star-studded post-Super Bowl kickback in music mode.
“Mary came back here to the house last night, and we went downstairs to the studio, and she was playing me samples and vibing out because we’re talking about working together on her next project,” he said.
Not sure if he was supposed to give up the goods, he quickly apologized to Blige and continued to detail the possible follow-up to her newly-released album Good Morning Gorgeous.
“I’m excited about it. We’re talking about working on her next project, and we were downstairs having a ton of fun, man, just listening to samples and music and playing around like that,” he added.
Dr. Dre and Blige last worked together on her 2003 album Love & Life. His contribution included the Eve-assisted kissoff “Not Today,” which also was featured on the Barbershop 2: Back in Business soundtrack.
Their successful partnership to date is “Family Affair,” which rocketed to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 in 2001, giving Blige her first and only number-one hit. Following her recent Super Bowl LVI set, she saw a more than 160% streaming boost on Spotify for the party anthem.
Her other recognizable track, “No More Drama,” written and produced by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, spiked by 520% in global streams on the streaming platform.
As mentioned above, Blige just released Good Morning Gorgeous, her first album in nearly five years. The LP features guest appearances from Usher, Anderson Paak, Fivio Foreign, DJ Khaled, and Dave East.
In Rated R&B’s exclusive interview with Blige’s A&R Eddie Fourcell, he commented on the direction sonically for the new record.
“We wanted the sound to be like ‘street elegance.’ It’s like another take on ghetto fabulous. It’s hard and aggressive, but it’s still expensive,” Fourcell explained.
“I feel like certain producers understood the assignment. Others took it into their own hands and still gave us some quality stuff, but knowing that’s what we wanted kind of helped the structure of what we were looking for.”
D’Mile was one of those producers, contributing two tracks, including the lead single and title track. It was recently crowned the number one single at R&B radio.
In other news, Blige will headline the 2022 Roots Picnic. The two-day festival will be held on June 4 and 5, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
She is also slated to perform at the 2022 Jazz In the Gardens on March 12 at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami.
