Recorded 1992 Label Uptown, MCA | Genre R&B
new jack swing | |
Released May 10, 1993 (1993-05-10) Format CD single
Cassette
Maxi single Length 5:02 (album version)
4:16 (Music video) | ||
"Love No Limit" is an R&B song by American recording artist Mary J. Blige. It is the fourth and final single from her critically acclaimed debut album, What's the 411? (1992). The song was co-written by Kenny Greene and Dave Hall, with the latter serving as the song's producer. The song became a top five R&B hit, reaching number-five on the R&B singles chart, and peaked at number forty-four on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart.
Contents
R&B singer Monica sang the song as a tribute at the Essence Awards 2003. Blige later performed the song at the 3rd BET Honors in 2010, as part of a medley of her hits, when she paid tribute to honoree Diddy.
The song was also briefly played in the movie CB4 starring Chris Rock.
Sampled by other artists
Recording and production
Dave Hall, the song's co-writer, explained how "Love No Limit" was created, wanting to give an urban, hip-hop feel to a much more jazzy sound.
"Love No Limit was the last record we wrote for the album. I had a deadline to meet and Diddy was pressuring me to get it done,” he laughs. “He kept calling my house and I told him I had this song called; ‘Love No Limit’ that I wrote with Kenny Greene. He said, ‘Cool. Let me hear it.’ So I played it for him and he said, ‘I like it.’ But I don’t think he was 100% sold on it. We moved forward with it even though it was much different from the rest of the material on the album. It was really jazzy. I was big into old school jazz like Sarah Vaughan and Ella Fitzgerald. Kenny Greene was church trained so we did the song with a jazzy feel, but it still had a strong beat to it. He wrote a catchy hook to it and Mary loved it. She definitely loved that type of jazz music. This whole album defined her sound per se. We cut the record and I thought it turned out great, but we were still skeptical on how it would be received because it was so different than any of the other stuff on her album. I was amazed when it came out because there would be guys on the corner in the hood blasting the song".
Music Video
The song's accompanying music video was very notable as it became the acting debut of British actor Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, who later starred on the television series Lost. In the black-and-white video Blige is singing in a club.
Remix version
In the official remix version, which is found on her What's the 411? Remix album, the song opens with a snippet of the original version, then the remix begins with Blige singing it in alternative way: the main beat takes a sample of Keni Burke's "Risin' to the Top" and the 1982 The Gap Band hit "Outstanding".