"Real Love" is a 1992 hit single by hip hop soul

Hip hop soul

Hip hop soul is sub-genre of contemporary R&B which fuses R&B, neo soul and dance elements with hip hop. The term did not originate until the promotion for Mary J. Blige's debut album What's the 411? in 1992 when Uptown Records proclaimed her to be the "Queen of Hip Hop Soul" and generally...

 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...

. It was the second single off Blige's debut album, What's the 411?

What's the 411?

What's the 411? is the debut album by American recording artist Mary J. Blige, released July 28, 1992. Upon being signed to Uptown Records, she began working with record producer Puff Daddy. The album spawned six singles, including "You Remind Me" and "Real Love".What's the 411? peaked at number...

. Written and produced by Mark C. Rooney and Mark Morales

Prince Markie Dee

Mark Anthony Morales, better known by the stage name Prince Markie Dee, is an American rapper, songwriter, producer, and radio personality of Puerto Rican descent...

 (of The Fat Boys

The Fat Boys

The Fat Boys are a successful African American hip-hop music trio from Brooklyn, New York City, that emerged in the early 1980s. Briefly, the group was known originally as the Disco 3.-Members:*Mark Morales a.k.a. "Prince Markie Dee"...

 fame) and built off a drum sample from hip hop

Hip hop music

Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...

 duo Audio Two

Audio Two

Audio Two were the Brooklyn, New York hip hop duo of emcee Kirk "Milk Dee" Robinson and DJ Nat "Gizmo" Robinson, most famous for its first hit, the classic "Top Billin'." The members of the duo are also the older brothers of female hip-hop star MC Lyte.-History:The duo’s debut single, "Make it...

's 1988 track "Top Billin'

Top Billin'

"Top Billin" was the breakout hit for American hip-hop duo Audio Two, although it was released as the B-side to "Make It Funky" in 1987, from the album What More Can I Say?. The song made a deep cultural impact on hip hop. The song was voted #8 in About.com's Top 100 Rap Songs...

". It was one of the songs which gave Blige a reputation as "the queen of hip-hop soul."

"Real Love" was her first top-ten pop

Pop music

Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...

 hit, peaking at number seven on the Billboard Hot 100

Billboard Hot 100

The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...

, and her second number one hit on Billboard's R&B singles

Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs

Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, is a chart released weekly by Billboard in the United States.The chart, initiated in 1942, is used to track the success of popular music songs in urban, or primarily African American, venues. Dominated over the years at various times by jazz, rhythm and blues, doo-wop, soul,...

 chart. The remix featured the second appearance of rapper The Notorious B.I.G.

The Notorious B.I.G.

Christopher George Latore Wallace , best known as The Notorious B.I.G., was an American rapper. He was also known as Biggie Smalls , Big Poppa, and The Black Frank White .Wallace was raised in the Brooklyn borough...

, who was then going by the name Biggie Smalls, and a sample of Betty Wright

Betty Wright

Bessie Regina Norris, better known by her stage name, Betty Wright , is a Grammy winning Miami-based soul and R&B singer-songwriter, who won fame in the 1970s with hits such as "Clean Up Woman" and "Tonight Is the Night"...

's 1972 single, "Clean Up Woman

Clean Up Woman

"Clean Up Woman" is a song by Betty Wright from her second studio album, I Love the Way You Love . Written and produced by Clarence Reid and Willie Clarke, it was released in 1971 as a 7" single with "I'll Love You Forever" on the B-side, reaching number six on the U.S. Pop Singles chart—where it...

." The song eventually helped What's the 411? sell more than three million copies in America

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 alone.

The song has since been covered by Mike Doughty

Mike Doughty

Mike Doughty is an American indie and alternative rock singer-songwriter. He led the band Soul Coughing in the 1990s, and in the 2000s, became a solo artist...

 (on his 2000 LP Skittish), by Toby Lightman

Toby Lightman

Toby Lightman is an American singer-songwriter. Her first album, Little Things, was released in 2004 on Lava/Atlantic. Her second album, Bird on a Wire was released in 2006. During her career, she has toured and performed with bands such as OAR, Rob Thomas, Jewel, Gavin DeGraw, Train, Prince, and...

 (on her 2004 album Little Things) and the Twilight Singers (on their 2004 album She Loves You

She Loves You (Twilight Singers album)

She Loves You is the third full length album by The Twilight Singers and their first cover album. It contains covers from various kinds of music, ranging from Jazz and Blues to Soul and R&B to Rock and Trip hop, and by artists John Coltrane, Skip James, Marvin Gaye, Mary J...

), as well as by a dancehall artist by the name of Fiona.

In 2007, the song was sampled on "Real Love", an album-track that appears on rapper/singer Eve

Eve (rapper)

Eve Jihan Jeffers , is an American rapper, songwriter, record producer and actress. Her first three albums have reached a total of over 8 million albums sold worldwide. She has also achieved success in fashion as she started a clothing line titled "Fetish." She won a Grammy Award in 2002 for the...

's album Here I Am which features Mary J. Blige herself. In addition, Lloyd Banks sampled the drum beat on his single Help which featured Keri Hilson.

In 2010, the song was used as the theme to the TV One reality television

Reality television

Reality television is a genre of television programming that presents purportedly unscripted dramatic or humorous situations, documents actual events, and usually features ordinary people instead of professional actors, sometimes in a contest or other situation where a prize is awarded...

 dating game show

Dating game show

Dating game shows are television game shows, some say reality game shows, that incorporate a dating system in the form of a game with clear rules. Human matchmaking is involved only in selecting the game's contestants - usually for amusement value as opposed to any concern for their happiness or...

 The Ultimate Merger

The Ultimate Merger

Donald J. Trump Presents The Ultimate Merger is an American reality television dating game show. A spin-off of The Apprentice, the series premiered on TV One on June 17, 2010. Notably, The Ultimate Merger is the first reality dating series to feature contestants who are almost entirely from the...

, which is produced by Donald Trump

Donald Trump

Donald John Trump, Sr. is an American business magnate, television personality and author. He is the chairman and president of The Trump Organization and the founder of Trump Entertainment Resorts. Trump's extravagant lifestyle, outspoken manner and role on the NBC reality show The Apprentice have...

 and stars former Apprentice

The Apprentice (U.S. TV series)

The Apprentice is an American reality television show hosted by real estate magnate, businessman and television personality Donald Trump, created by Mark Burnett and broadcast on NBC...

contestant Omarosa

Omarosa Manigault-Stallworth

Omaroseonee Manigault-Stallworth , usually known simply as Omarosa, is a two-time participant on Donald Trump's television reality show The Apprentice.-Early life:Manigault-Stallworth was born in Youngstown, Ohio...

.

The backing beat has been sampled by R&B group, Dru Hill

Dru Hill

Dru Hill is an American singing group, most popular during the late 1990s, whose repertoire included R&B, soul, and gospel music. Founded in Baltimore, Maryland, and active since 1992, Dru Hill recorded seven Top 40 hits, and is best known for the R&B #1 hits "In My Bed", "Never Make a Promise", ...

 in the track, "Whatever You Want" from their 1996 self-titled debut album

Dru Hill (album)

-Album:-Singles:"—" denotes releases that did not chart.-Personnel:Information taken from Allmusic.*assistant engineering – Jim Carliana, Chris Habeck, Kevin Lively, Steven Rhodes, Brian Thomas, Bernasky Wall, Won B., Luke Yeager...

.

Peak positions

Chart (1992)	Peak position
UK Singles Chart UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...	26
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...	7
U.S. Billboard R&B Singles Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, is a chart released weekly by Billboard in the United States.The chart, initiated in 1942, is used to track the success of popular music songs in urban, or primarily African American, venues. Dominated over the years at various times by jazz, rhythm and blues, doo-wop, soul,...	1
U.S. Billboard Mainstream Top 40 Mainstream Top 40 (Pop Songs) The Mainstream Top 40 is an airplay chart from Billboard magazine, and is also known as Pop Songs on billboard.com. It was often mistaken for and confused with the now discontinued Pop 100 Airplay chart...	8
U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs	36

End-of-year charts

End of year chart (1992)	Position
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	85
End of year chart (1993)	Position
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	58