Love & Life is the sixth studio album by American singer Mary J. Blige

Mary J. Blige

Mary Jane Blige is an American singer-songwriter, record producer and occasional actress. She is a recipient of nine Grammy Awards and four American Music Awards, and has recorded eight multi-platinum albums. She is the only artist with Grammy Award wins in Pop, Rap, Gospel, and R&B. Blige has...

, released in the United States on August 26, 2003 (see 2003 in music

2003 in music

-January:* January – following an investigation by The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry and London detectives, police raids in England and the Netherlands recover nearly 500 original Beatles studio tapes, recorded during the Let It Be sessions. Five people are arrested...

) on Geffen Records

Geffen Records

Geffen Records is an American record label, owned by Universal Music Group, and operated as one third of UMG's Interscope-Geffen-A&M label group.-Beginnings:...

. The album was primarily produced by Sean "Diddy" Combs, who executive produced her first two albums. Additional production came from Dr. Dre

Dr. Dre

Andre Romelle Young , primarily known by his stage name Dr. Dre, is an American record producer, rapper, record executive, entrepreneur, and occasional actor. He is the founder and current CEO of Aftermath Entertainment and a former co-owner and artist of Death Row Records...

 and The Hitmen

The Hitmen (production team)

The Hitmen is a production team formed by Sean "Diddy" Combs to produce hip hop and R&B records for his Bad Boy label's recording artists. Because of its great success, the group has also been hired for projects outside of Bad Boy-Production:...

.

The album became Blige's first album in six years to debut at number one on the Billboard 200

Billboard 200

The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...

, selling 285,298 copies in first week.

Love & Life received mixed reviews from music critics. Allmusic gave it 4 stars and said the album "beamed with joy" and Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...

gave it three stars, saying "You may not always love Blige's music, but you will feel her".

The album was eventually certified Platinum by the RIAA. To date the album has sold over 1,000,000 copies in the U.S. and over 2,000,000 copies worldwide. The album was nominated for the Best Contemporary R&B Album

Grammy Award for Best Contemporary R&B Album

The Grammy Award for Best Contemporary R&B Album was an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality works on albums in the contemporary R&B music genre...

 at the 46th Grammy Awards

Grammy Awards of 2004

The 46th Grammy Awards were held on the February 8, 2004. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the previous year. The big winners were Outkast, who won three awards including Album of the Year & Beyoncé Knowles, who won 5 Awards...

.

Track listing

#	Title	Length	Writers	Producer(s)
1	"Love & Life Intro" (featuring Jay-Z Jay-Z Shawn Corey Carter , better known by his stage name Jay-Z, is an American rapper, record producer, entrepreneur, and occasional actor. He is one of the most financially successful hip hop artists and entrepreneurs in America, having a net worth of over $450 million as of 2010...  & Diddy)	2:48	Mary J. Blige, Shawn Carter, D. Christo, Sean Combs, L. McCann	Sean "Diddy" Combs for The Hitmen The Hitmen (production team) The Hitmen is a production team formed by Sean "Diddy" Combs to produce hip hop and R&B records for his Bad Boy label's recording artists. Because of its great success, the group has also been hired for projects outside of Bad Boy-Production:...
2	"Don't Go"	4:28	Blige, B. Miller, D. Angelettie, Combs, J. Williams, J. Mercer	Sean "Diddy" Combs & Deric "D-Dot" Angelettie Deric Angelettie Deric Michael Angelettie , otherwise known as D-Dot, Papa Dot and The Madd Rapper, is a rapper, record producer, CEO and entrepreneur. He graduated from Samuel J. Tilden High School in 1986. He then attended Howard University from 1986-1989. He dropped out to pursue a music career...  for The Hitmen
3	"When We"	3:36	Blige, M. Jamison, A. Creamer, Mario Winans Mario Winans Mario Winans is an American R&B singer, songwriter, music producer, and multi-instrumentalist. Born Mario Brown, he is the son of gospel recording artist Vickie Winans and her first husband, Bishop Ronald Brown. He is also the stepson of his mother's second husband, gospel singer, Pastor Marvin... , Combs, M. Gaye Marvin Gaye Marvin Pentz Gay, Jr. , better known by his stage name Marvin Gaye, was an American singer-songwriter and musician with a three-octave vocal range.... , A. Gaye Anna Gordy Gaye Anna Gordy Gaye is an American songwriter and composer, known as the elder sister of Motown founder Berry Gordy and the first wife of soul legend Marvin Gaye, who used their troubled marriage as the focal point of his critically acclaimed 1978 effort, Here, My Dear, an album from which Gordy... , E. Stover Elgie Stover Elgie Stover is an American songwriter, composer, producer and background singer, most famous for his associations with uncle Harvey Fuqua and legendary Motown star Marvin Gaye, co-writing two of Gaye's songs from the singer's acclaimed 1971 album, What's Going On.Growing up in Cleveland, Ohio,...	Sean "Diddy" Combs for The Hitmen
4	"Not Today Not Today "Not Today" is the third single from Mary J. Blige's sixth studio album Love & Life, performed with rapper Eve. Released in March 2004, the track was used as a single for the soundtrack to Barbershop 2: Back in Business. The track was also included in Dr... " (featuring Eve)	4:13	Blige, Miller, Andre Young Dr. Dre Andre Romelle Young , primarily known by his stage name Dr. Dre, is an American record producer, rapper, record executive, entrepreneur, and occasional actor. He is the founder and current CEO of Aftermath Entertainment and a former co-owner and artist of Death Row Records... , R. Feemster, Mike Elizondo, Eve Jeffers	Dr. Dre
5	"Finally Made It (Interlude)"	1:39	Blige, Angelettie, Combs, R. Holland	Sean "Diddy" Combs & Deric "D-Dot" Angelettie for The Hitmen
6	"Ooh! Ooh! "Ooh!" is the second single from Mary J. Blige's sixth studio album Love & Life. Released in 2003, the Diddy produced single reached #29 on the Billboard Hot 100. A remix was later released officially titled the "G-Unit Remix" that featured 50 Cent, Lloyd Banks, and Young Buck... "	4:07	Blige, Jamison, D. Christo, Combs, H. Bohannon	Sean "Diddy" Combs for The Hitmen
7	"Let Me Be the 1" (featuring 50 Cent 50 Cent Curtis James Jackson III , better known by his stage name 50 Cent, is an American rapper, entrepreneur, investor, record producer, and actor. He rose to fame with the release of his albums Get Rich or Die Tryin and The Massacre . Get Rich or Die Tryin has been certified eight times platinum by... )	4:40	Blige, Jamison, Curtis Jackson, M. Crosby, C. Sanchez, Combs, S. Barnes, George Clinton George Clinton (musician) George Clinton is an American singer, songwriter, bandleader, and music producer and the principal architect of P-Funk. He was the mastermind of the bands Parliament and Funkadelic during the 1970s and early 1980s, and launched a solo career in 1981. He has been cited as one of the foremost... , T. Lindsey	Sean "Diddy" Combs for The Hitmen
8	"Love @ 1st Sight Love @ 1st Sight "Love @ 1st Sight" is the first single from Mary J. Blige's sixth studio album Love & Life, performed with rapper Method Man. Released in June 2003, the P. Diddy and Mario Winans produced single reached #22 on the Billboard Hot 100, #10 on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks chart, #18... " (featuring Method Man Method Man Clifford Smith , better known by his stage name Method Man is an American hip hop artist, record producer, actor and member of the hip hop collective Wu-Tang Clan. He took his stage name from the 1979 film The Fearless Young Boxer, also known as Method Man. He is one half of the rap duo Method Man... )	5:18	Blige, Jamison, Winans, Combs, Clifford Smith, S. Jordan, K. Fareed, K. Ibn, A. Muhammed, M. Taylor	Sean "Diddy" Combs, Mario Winans, & Steven "Stevie J" Jordan Stevie J --MSGOLDBERG1 23:09, 23 November 2011 Stevie J. is an American musician, singer, record producer and songwriter. This upstate New Yorker is the leader of the Bad Boy Entertainment Hitmen roster of in-house producers and writers during the 90s and thus worked often with the label's owner Sean...  for The Hitmen
9	"Willing & Waiting"	4:19	Blige, Jamison, A. Creamer, D. Lewis, W. Lewis	Sean "Diddy" Combs for The Hitmen
10	"Free (Interlude)"	2:04	Blige, Winans	Sean "Diddy" Combs & Mario Winans for The Hitmen
11	"Friends"	4:02	Blige, S. Foote, M. Hasan, T. Brock, R. Taylor, B. White	Sean "Diddy" Combs & Mario Winans for The Hitmen
12	"Press On"	4:17	Blige, K. Gist, C. Cofield, D. Crofts, J. Seals	Sean "Diddy" Combs for The Hitmen
13	"Feel Like Makin' Love"	4:42	Blige, Jamison, S. Jordan, Combs	Sean "Diddy" Combs & Steven "Stevie J" Jordan for The Hitmen
14	"It's a Wrap It's a Wrap "It's A Wrap" is the fourth U.S. single from Mary J. Blige's sixth studio album Love & Life. Released in June 2004, the single saw minor success with peaking at #71 on Billboard's R&B/Hip-Hop chart. The song was not released in the UK and was her final single from the album.-Charts:... "	4:20	Blige, Winans, Combs	Sean "Diddy" Combs & Mario Winans for The Hitmen
15	"Message in Our Music (Interlude)"	2:14	Blige, Robert Bell, Ronald Bell Ronald Bell (musician) Ronald Bell, also known by his Arabic name Khalis Bayyan is an American saxophonist, composer, songwriter, arranger, producer and singer, who was a founding member of the band, Kool & the Gang... , George Brown, Robert Mickens, Claydes Smith, A. Taylor, Dennis Thomas, Rick Westfield	Sean "Diddy" Combs for The Hitmen
16	"All My Love"	4:16	Blige, Miller, D. Christo, Combs, D. Addrisi, R. Addrisi	Sean "Diddy" Combs for The Hitmen
17	"Special Part of Me"	4:33	Blige, Combs, Winans	Sean "Diddy" Combs & Mario Winans for The Hitmen
18	"Ultimate Relationship (A.M.)"	5:05	D. Lawrence, S. White	Sean "Diddy" Combs for The Hitmen

Bonus tracks

• "Whenever I Say Your Name
  Whenever I Say Your Name
  "Whenever I Say Your Name" is a 2003 duet between British singer-songwriter Sting and American R&B singer Mary J. Blige. The song is the second single from Sting's studio album Sacred Love. It was not originally included on Mary J...
  
   (Duet with Sting) [International Bonus Track]
• "Didn't Mean" [UK and Brazil Bonus Track]
• "Happy Endings" [Japan Bonus Track]
• "If I Don't Love You This Way" [Japan and UK reissue Bonus Track]

Bonus US Limited Edition DVD:

• A look at making the album.

Chart positions

Chart (2003)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard 200 Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...	1
U.S. Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a chart published by Billboard magazine that ranks R&B and hip hop albums based on sales compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The name of the chart was changed from Top R&B Albums in 1999...	1
Canadian Albums Chart Canadian Albums Chart The Canadian Albums Chart is the official album sales chart in Canada. It is compiled every Wednesday by U.S.-based music sales tracking company Nielsen Soundscan, and published every Thursday by Jam! Canoe and Billboard, along with its sister charts the Canadian Singles Chart and the Canadian BDS...	6
German Albums Chart	21

Chart procession and succession