Recording and Music
After being signed to Uptown Records, Blige began working with record producer Puff Daddy. He became the executive producer and produced a majority of the album. The title, What's the 411?, derived from Blige's past occupation as a 4-1-1 operator; it was also an indication by Blige of being the "real deal". The album contains elements of hip hop soul and new jack swing, The music was described as "revelatory on a frequent basis". Blige was noted for having a "tough girl persona and streetwise lyrics", which gave the album "a gritty undertone and a realism missing from much of the devotional love songs ruling the charts at that time". Havelock Nelson of Entertainment Weekly expressed that Blige "bends her gospel-bred pipes around streetwise collages consisting of hard drumbeats, rugged rap samples, and hazy synthesizer lines", describing déjà vu of "the most accomplished fusions of soul values and hip-hop to date".
The album begins with "Leave a Message", a collection of Blige's answering machine messages over a drum beat. The following two tracks, "Reminisce" and "You Remind Me", are melancholy songs that are overlaid with hip hop beats. A cover of Chaka Khan's "Sweet Thing" followed.
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