{"id":222245,"date":"2026-01-21T09:00:03","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T08:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/?p=222245"},"modified":"2026-01-20T14:55:44","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T13:55:44","slug":"mary-j-blige-keeps-it-real-at-7pm-in-brooklyn-with-carmelo-anthony","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/mary-j-blige-keeps-it-real-at-7pm-in-brooklyn-with-carmelo-anthony\/","title":{"rendered":"Mary J. Blige Keeps It Real At  7PM In Brooklyn With Carmelo Anthony"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe width=\"100%\" height=\"500\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/wCIUlJ9W5oI?si=KdHdb65PuaQeaep9\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Mary J. Blige pulls up to 7PM in Brooklyn and gets real. She talks about an unreleased record with Jay Z that never saw the light of day, why she passed on Rihanna\u2019s \u201cUmbrella\u201d before it became a global hit, and collaborating with a generation of brilliant Black women on the Waiting to Exhale soundtrack that helped define an era.<\/p>\n<p>The conversation moves through legacy without forcing it. From trusting instinct over hype to why her Vegas residency feels like earned peace, not a victory lap, Mary reflects on the moments that shaped her path and the ones that almost happened.<\/p>\n<p>This is Mary. Comfortable. Reflective. Speaking from the other side of the work.<br \/>\n<!--more--><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"222246\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/mary-j-blige-keeps-it-real-at-7pm-in-brooklyn-with-carmelo-anthony\/mary-carmelo\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Mary-Carmelo.avif\" data-orig-size=\"1280,720\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Mary Carmelo\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Mary-Carmelo-1024x576.avif\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Mary-Carmelo-540x304.avif\" alt=\"\" width=\"540\" height=\"304\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-222246\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Mary-Carmelo-540x304.avif 540w, https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Mary-Carmelo-1024x576.avif 1024w, https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Mary-Carmelo-768x432.avif 768w, https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Mary-Carmelo.avif 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 540px) 100vw, 540px\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mary J. Blige pulls up to 7PM in Brooklyn and gets real. She talks about&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-222245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-interviews"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pG6fW-VOB","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=222245"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222245\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=222245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=222245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=222245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}