"Shea Butter Baby" is a song by American singer Ari Lennox and American rapper J. Cole. The song was produced by Elite and Shroom, and was originally released on November 16, 2018, on the soundtrack for the sports drama film Creed II, titled Creed II: The Album. It was later released as a single on February 26, 2019, for Ari Lennox's album Shea Butter Baby.
Background The song made an appearance in the film Creed II, as Ari Lennox spoke to Billboard 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 Billboard, 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 [song], 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 and Spotify.
Courtney Shenade Salter – main artist, composer, lyricist Jermaine Cole – main artist, composer, lyricist Anthony Parrino – composer, lyricist Tim Schoegje – composer, lyricist Elite – producer Shroom – additional producer
Charts Chart (2019) Peakposition
Certifications
Release history Region Date Format Label Various February 26, 2019 Digital download
References