XXL put up part of their feature on Hip-Hop/ R&B collaborations from their August 2009 issue. Mary J. Blige: This was around the time, I think, we were in the middle of recording the My Life album. I was in the studio, and Puff was like, “Method Man wants to do a record with you.” I was already a fan of Wu-Tang, but I had become a bigger fan of Meth when he was by himself, so I was excited when I got that call. Immediately I was familiar, and I was all the way in because “You’re All I Need” was one of my favorite songs as a little girl. I used to play that song over and over and over again because it meant so much to me. And, of course, listening to my parents play it, it was like, okay, you know, anything that your parents listen to was good. So I was definitely familiar. I didn’t know Meth at all. The night we did “You’re All I Need” was the very first night I met him. And he was one of the nicest people that I had encountered since I had been in the music business. I was like, “Wow, this is refreshing.” He was nice. He was supportive. He made me feel like I was his little sister immediately. It was great. I was so happy to be a part of it. [The night we recorded,] I was in the studio already, and Puff was like, “Meth is gonna come by, and you guys are gonna do the song.” I remember being in the studio and him coming. It was him and Ol’ Dirty Bastard and a couple other people. After I did the record with [Meth], Puff sent it to me, and we listened to it. It was like, oh my God, a match made in heaven. It was perfect. The chemistry was just too perfect. Not too perfect, but you know. Lyrically, Meth is saying some incredible things. He’s saying the things most of us want. We want someone to love us whether we’re rich, poor, fat, skinny, and before all this fame and the hair and makeup, the jewels, that’s what he’s saying. That this person loved him before he was Meth. And that meant a lot, because that’s the type of person I