The younger Mary J. Blige, I would call her, she was very unaware, ignorant.

I decided to start my own label because so many people with talent come to me wanting to know how they can get in the music business.

I like French fries; I like mashed. I love potatoes.

That's the message I want to give to every up-and-coming artist: Do everything that is going to help you later. If you clone somebody else, that's all they're gonna keep wanting from you.

Cause I'm no better than you, you, or you. And I can't get on no throne and preach, 'cause I'm not God.

As a child I always wanted to be a singer. The music my mother played in the house moved me - Aretha Franklin, Chaka Khan, Mahalia Jackson. It was truly spiritual. It made you understand what God was. We are all spirits. We get depressed. But music makes you want to live. I know my music has saved my life.

'My Life' is not an autobiography. It's just music.