Two things struck me simultaneously the other day as I was listening to DMX: firstly, DMX used to be able to get it hype and convey so many deep emotions all at once and secondly, some dude who was my first love did me wrong when this same DMX song was circulating on the radio. This led me to think about this sad period in my life, which got me to thinking about the sweet shaded center that intersects both DMX and the best contemporary singer of heartache that I know. That sweet spot of this Venn diagram landed squarely on Mary J. Blige. "Sincerity," when it was revealed by Funkmaster Flex in 1999, was a song I literally played hundreds of time in succession because no one else seemed to so effortlessly convey how "I never knew how you could hide every time you told a lie." Wow. If anything, it's in this song that Mary displays so well how she has finally triumphed over that lovesickness that captured her tightly in its grasp on My Life. "Sincerity" is the tale of a woman who has lived a bit more and not afraid to stand alone, nor afraid to have the two best emcees of that time, DMX and Nas, spit rhymes--not game--about how beautiful their time had been together. But Mary wasn't having it. Ironically, it is this song that I can't not have as frequently as I had it 10 years ago.
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