She reinvented her career throughout by shedding the bad habits and bad influences that kept her down. By the time her fourth album, “Mary” was released in 1999, she had matured into an expressive singer able to put the full power of her voice behind her music, while still reflecting a strong urban style. Her fifth album, “No More Drama” wasn't just Blige's style that shone through the structures set up for her by songwriters and producers rather was her own vision -- spiritual, emotional, personal, and full of wisdom reflecting an artist who was comfortable with who she was and how far she had come.

When she was at a local mall in White Plains, NY, she recorded herself singing Anita Baker's "Caught Up in the Rapture," into a karaoke machine. The resulting tape was passed by Blige's stepfather to Uptown Records' CEO Andre Harrell who was being extremely impressed by her voice signed her to sing backup for local acts like Father MC. Sean "Puffy" Combs took Blige in 1991 under his wing and began working with her on What's the 411?, her debut album. Uptown tried to capitalize on the success of {What's the 411?} by issuing a remixed version of it a year later, but it was only a modest success creatively and commercially. Her 1995 follow-up, My Life, again featured Combs' handiwork and was full of ghetto pathos and Blige's own personal pain shone through like a beacon. The beginning of Blige's creative partnerships with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis was marked by the 1997's “Share My World”. The album, another hit for Blige debuted at number one on the Billboard charts.

2001 release, “No More Drama”, a deeply personal album that remained a collective effort musically reflected more of Blige's songwriting than any of her previous efforts. On December 2005, Geffen released Mary's seventh studio album, entitled “The Breakthrough”.The lead off single "Be Without You" quickly raced up both the R&B and pop singles charts, topping the former for a record setting fifteen consecutive weeks. The album simultaneously debuted at #1 on both the R&B albums and Billboard 200 albums charts, selling 727,163 copies in its first week. Blige made her acting debut in 1998 on The Jamie Foxx Show playing Ola Mae. In 2001, she played Mrs. Butler in the independent feature film, Prison Song starring rapper Q-Tip. Blige starred in her first off-Broadway play, The Exonerated in 2004.