Mary J. Blige & Shayne Oliver Imagine Black Futures
In a candid conversation with Deidre Dyer, the music icon and Hood By Air founder get real on everything from their responsibility to the public, to what propels them forward. Photographed by Renell Medrano. Fashion Director: Gabriella Karefa-Johnson
Bounce-backs. Comebacks. Rebounds. Whatever you call them, Mary J. Blige and Shayne Oliver have accomplished them, time and time again. Since the release of her debut album, What’s the 411?, in 1992, which introduced the world to a particular flavor of hood-saucy and headstrong woman, Blige has brought her soul-baring, uncompromising energy to the music industry. Similarly, over a decade ago, Oliver’s Hood By Air absolutely upended the fashion world with a vision that eschewed gender norms and deconstructed fashion, and that is only now becoming widespread in the industry. Today they are both innovators and elder statesmen, and have earned the right to do exactly as they please. In following their guts and choosing their destiny, they are writing a story of constant introspection, fine-tuning and reexamining the borders of their sense of self. GARAGE brought together Blige and Oliver in a wide-ranging conversation via phone, that looks back at their trajectories, and forward to a collective, self-determined future for Black and Brown people.
