The book and album, The Rarities, explain the singer’s self-emancipation — The Mariah Carey that the world met back in 1990 was a fiction: a filtered version of herself. An all-American girl born of record executives and PR spin doctors. But under the saccharine surface, while married to record executive Tommy Mottola, she called their shared mansion “Sing Sing.” …

Two lifetimes of Number 1 hits, TV shows, chicken, waffles, and pies led us to this historic soulstress song battle — “Leave ya church clothes on all Sunday and pull up to the affair of all affairs. Y’all gotta get dressed up in ya Sunday’s best for this one.” Verzuz made the announcement via Instagram and provided us the perfect set up for the next artists to go head-to-head: Patti LaBelle…