"Shea Butter Baby" is a song by American singer

Ari Lennox Courtney Shanade Salter (born March 26, 1991), known professionally as Ari Lennox, is an American R&B singer-songwriter from Washington, D.C. She signed with J. Cole's Dreamville Records, an imprint of Interscope Records as the former label's ...

and American rapper

J. Cole Jermaine Lamarr Cole (born January 28, 1985) is an American rapper and record producer. Born in a military base in Germany and raised in Fayetteville, North Carolina, Cole initially gained attention as a rapper following the release of his d ...

. The song was produced by

Elite In political and sociological theory, the elite (, from , to select or to sort out) are a small group of powerful or wealthy people who hold a disproportionate amount of wealth, privilege, political power, or skill in a group. Defined by the ...

and Shroom, and was originally released on November 16, 2018, on the soundtrack for the

sports drama film A sports film is a film genre in which any particular sport plays a prominent role in the film's plot or acts as its central theme. It is a production in which a sport or a sports-related topic is prominently featured or is a focus of the plot. De ...

Creed II ''Creed II'' is a 2018 American sports drama film directed by Steven Caple Jr. from a screenplay by Juel Taylor and Sylvester Stallone. It is the sequel to ''Creed'' (2015), a follow-up to '' Rocky IV'' (1985), and the eighth installment in t ...

'', titled '' Creed II: The Album''. It was later released as a single on February 26, 2019, for Ari Lennox's album ''

Shea Butter Baby ''Shea Butter Baby'' is the debut studio album by American singer Ari Lennox. It was released on May 7, 2019, by Dreamville and Interscope Records. The album was executive produced by Dreamville producer Elite. In addition, the majority of the al ...

''.

Background

The song made an appearance in the film ''

'', as Ari Lennox spoke to ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' during her ''Creed II'' red carpet interview on what inspired her to create the song and cited her influences saying:

Recording and composition

In an interview with ''

'', Elite talked about how the song was created saying, "We were at my place in L.A. and making a bunch of songs. It happened really quickly. I made the beat really fast. She came up with the song really fast. We recorded it. We looked at it like just another

ong Ong or ONG may refer to: Arts and media * Ong's Hat, a collaborative work of fiction * “Ong Ong”, a song by Blur from the album The Magic Whip Places * Ong, Nebraska, US, city * Ong's Hat, New Jersey, US, ghost town * Ong River, Odisha, ...

and we sent it around to our team." A few months later, they revisited the track to find what songs will make the album, and Cole immediately wanted to get on the song.

Music video

The lyric video for the song was released on November 18, 2018, with selections of multiple different scenes from ''Creed II''. The official music video was released on February 20, 2019, and was directed by Bennett Johnson, which surpassed 3 million views via YouTube within the first week. The video depicts the ups and downs of a relationship between Ari and her partner. Cole also appears around the halfway mark of the video as he spits his verse while standing in a vacant space with Lennox.

Credits and personnel

Credits and personnel adapted from

Tidal Tidal is the adjectival form of tide. Tidal may also refer to: * ''Tidal'' (album), a 1996 album by Fiona Apple * Tidal (king), a king involved in the Battle of the Vale of Siddim * TidalCycles, a live coding environment for music * Tidal (servic ...

and

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a List of companies of Sweden, Swedish Music streaming service, audio streaming and media service provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. , it is one of the largest providers of music streaming services ...

. * Courtney Shenade Salter – main artist, composer, lyricist * Jermaine Cole – main artist, composer, lyricist * Anthony Parrino – composer, lyricist * Tim Schoegje – composer, lyricist *

– producer * Shroom – additional producer

Charts

Certifications

Release history

References

{{J. Cole 2018 songs 2019 singles Ari Lennox songs J. Cole songs Songs from Rocky (franchise) Songs written by Ari Lennox Songs written by J. Cole Dreamville Records singles Interscope Records singles Songs written by Elite (record producer)