The Backbone of Mary J. Blige's 'Know'

A sample of “Reflections” by Detroit singer Albert Jones lays the groundwork for the thumping beat. The smooth soul track from 1973 was flipped by Sounwave and looped throughout “Know.” And words by Albert ‘Al Jay’ Jones open the song for Mary J. Blige to share her encouraging message to all the queens out there—not just the ones who were given that title by music journalists. “Every woman and mother in the world is a queen. Because she sacrificed so much…”

“Reflections” is somewhat of a rare soul track from the Tuff City archives; prices on Discogs for the 7” record are $130 and higher. Better known is Albert Jones’ track “Mother Nature”, with horns sampled by Kanye West for Common’s “Be (Intro).”

Mary J. Blige is currently co-headlining the ‘Royalty Tour’ together with Nas, set to run in the USA till mid-September. Their recent collaborative track “Thriving” marks the third time they work together on a track, after "Love is All We Need" in 1997 and "Reach Out" in 2012.

Mary J. Blige is set to release her 14th studio album, My Life II... There’s Something About Me, Myself & Mary Jane (Act 2), sometime later this year.