For those of us who born before 1990, many of the acts that graced the 2019 BET Awards stage were unknowns who we couldn’t identify with or understand.

Honestly, I don’t know the difference between DaBaby and Lil’ Baby or whatever noises they were making onstage, but I do know that when Aunt Mary hit the stage to perform, I finally felt at home. And I wasn’t alone as damn near everyone in the audience was up on their feet singing along to all of Mary’s songs like we were at a black cookout.

Mary J. Blige rolled through hit after hit, and the crowd lapped up every incredible second of it.

She did “Real Love,” “Reminisce,” “Be Happy,” “Just Fine,” “I’m Goin’ Down” and “Love Without a Limit,” and that didn’t even scratch the surface with regards to the depth of her catalog.

While hearing Mary run through her archive of hits was fantastic, the real highlights were definitely the guest appearances by Lil’ Kim on “I Can Love You” and Method Man on “All I Need.”

While Kimberly looked something like a blood clot and she sounded out of breath at times, there was no denying that her energy was on fire.

Method Man, on the other hand, has been spending a good amount of time in the gym, so his stamina was way better than Kim’s.

Honestly, there’s truly something here for everybody so just sit back, relax and enjoy the splendor that is Mary J. Blige and her thigh-high boots.

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