Brandy and Chance the Rapper Celebrate Mother's Day Early With 'Baby Mama'

Just in time for Mother’s Day, recruited for a celebration of single moms. “Baby Mama” will appear on the Grammy-winning R&B star’s first album in eight years. 

Produced by Hit-Boy, “Baby Mama” is joyful from the jump. Brandy details her love for her daughter Sy’rai over a horn-heavy beat, celebrating the teen’s talents and ability to shine. Brandy has been a single mom for the majority of Sy’rai’s life, and the song’s catchy hook is equally an ode to her own independence and hard work: “Every day I breathe, it’s for my little mama/I’m every women and a baby mama,” she sings. Chance’s playful guest verse has him boosting Brandy’s solo confidence: “Wait come and think of it/She didn’t never really need you,” he concludes.

Brandy tells Rolling Stone that her follow-up to 2012’s Two Eleven has been completed, and “Baby Mama” came toward the end of the album-making process. “I feel so honored to be a mom and taking care of my baby. It’s a dedication to her and to all moms who are doing the same thing,” she says. “Baby Mama” isn’t a total tease of her new album’s sound; Brandy says that each track has “its own sound to it” with an overall “edgy, R&B vibe to it.”

As for Chance the Rapper’s guest verse, Brandy had connected with him when he reached out about sampling a portion of her first single, “I Wanna Be Down.” They FaceTimed and hit it off immediately, leading to the pair deciding to work on something new together. “He’s a family man. He’s a mother lover. He has great morals and is a role model,” she says. “The verse that he did was just mind-blowing.”

In the years leading up to her upcoming seventh album, Brandy has been busy with various stage and screen projects. She has starred as Roxie Hart in Chicago and appeared on Fox’s Star. Last year, she released the single “Freedom Rings” and appeared on Daniel Caesar’s Love Again.