''Baby Makin' Music'' is the thirtieth studio album by the American

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

musical soul group, the Isley Brothers (with bandleader

Ronald Isley Ronald Isley (; born May 21, 1941) is an American recording artist, songwriter, record producer, and occasional actor. Isley is the lead singer and founding member of the family music group The Isley Brothers. Early life Born in 1941 to Sally ...

credited as the lead feature). It was released under the short-lived Def Soul Classics imprint on May 9, 2006. Their first for the

Def Jam Def Jam Recordings (also simply known as Def Jam) is an American multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It is based in Manhattan, New York City, specializing predominantly in hip hop, contemporary R&B, soul and pop. The ...

-affiliated label, the album peaked at number five on the ''Billboard'' 200, while debuting at number one on the

Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a music chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine that ranks R&B and hip hop albums based on sales in the United States and is compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The chart debuted as Hot R&B LPs in the issue dated J ...

chart. Album sales were helped by the R&B chart success of the first single, "Just Came Here to Chill", and the

R. Kelly Robert Sylvester Kelly (born January 8, 1967) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and sex offender convicted of racketeering and multiple sex offenses. During his recording career, Kelly sold over 75 million records worldwid ...

duet, "Blast Off", which is the only collaboration with Kelly on this album, after he produced their last album, ''

Body Kiss ''Body Kiss'' is the 29th studio album by The Isley Brothers on the DreamWorks label. Almost solely written, arranged, composed and produced by longtime collaborator R. Kelly as well as hitmakers Tim & Bob, the album yielded the singles "What Woul ...

'' (2003). Other producers on ''Baby Makin' Music'' include Gordon Chambers, Jermaine Dupri,

Tim & Bob Tim & Bob (Tim Kelley and Bob Robinson), also known as Funktwons, were a songwriting and production duo. Tim & Bob have discovered and or worked on some of the biggest artists in the music industry and has helped develop the Atlanta music scene ...

and Manuel Seal. Following the album's release, the Isley Brothers ended up on a temporary hiatus following lead singer Ronald Isley's conviction on tax evasion charges, having served three years in federal prison before being released in 2010 and releasing a solo album.

Background

In October 2003, five months following the release of their predecessor, ''

'', which achieved commercial success, and almost a month ahead of the release of

and

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's collaborative album, ''Here I Am'', the group's label,

DreamWorks Records DreamWorks Records (often referred in copyright notices as SKG Music, LLC) was an American record label founded in 1996 by David Geffen, Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg as a subsidiary of DreamWorks Pictures. The label operated until 200 ...

, previously a music label subsidiary of DreamWorks Pictures, was acquired by

Universal Music Group Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Dutch– American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum, Netherlands and its ...

and then folded into

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. As a result, the Isley Brothers became free agents for only five months until in May 2004, former Universal Music CEO Doug Morris convinced the group to comeback to UMG. Accepting his offer, Ronald Isley signed a new contract with Universal, rather than face being dropped from the label and losing money. Instead of signing with DreamWorks' succeeding label, Geffen Records, Morris helped to sign the Isley Brothers to Geffen's UMG sister label, Def Soul, the R&B division of Def Jam Recordings. Around that time, Def Jam was already under new leadership of former

Arista Records Arista Records () is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. The label was previously handled by BMG Entertainmen ...

chairman

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, following the departure of Lyor Cohen,

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and its co-founder

Russell Simmons Russell Wendell Simmons (born October 4, 1957) is an American entrepreneur, writer and record executive. He co-founded the hip-hop label Def Jam Recordings, and created the clothing fashion lines Phat Farm, Argyleculture, and Tantris. Simmons' ...

Singles and release

The album's lead single, "You Helped Me Write This Song", was released in October 2005, after it leaked on pirate radio last June. ''Baby Makin' Music'' was expected to be released on December 20, 2005, but was later delayed to May 9, 2006, on which it was finally released.

Critical reception

The album received three and a half out of five stars on

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

Track listing

Notes * denotes co-producer Sample credits *"You're My Star" contains samples from "Makings of You" as recorded by Gladys Knight & the Pips, written by Curtis Mayfield.

Personnel

– lead and backing vocals, production, executive producer * Ernie Isley – acoustic guitar (track 1), electric guitar (tracks 5, 10) *

– lead and backing vocals (track 2), arrangements, producer *Donnie Lyle – guitar (track 2) *Big D – guitar (track 10) *Bob Robinson – additional keyboards (tracks 1, 5), arrangements, production *Rodney East – additional keyboards (tracks 2) *Tim Kelley – bass, keyboards & drums (tracks 1, 5), backing vocals (track 5), arrangements, production * Jermaine Dupri – rapping, producer * Manuel Seal – multi-instruments & backing vocals (tracks 7, 8), production *Troy Taylor – multi-instruments, arrangements, production (tracks 3, 10, 11) * Johnta Austin – backing vocals (tracks 4, 6, 9) *Kandy Isley – backing vocals (tracks 1, 5) * Ezekiel "Zeke" Lewis – production, backing vocals (tracks 10, 11) *

Sam Salter Samuel Salter (February 16, 1975 – August 27, 2021) was an American R&B singer. Career Beginnings, LaFace Records and ''It's On Tonight'' Growing up as the second of seven children, Salter sang gospel music at Faithful Church of God in C ...

– backing vocals (track 11) *Tyran "Ty Ty" Smith – executive producer

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

External links

The Isley Brothers - ''Baby Makin' Music'' (2006) album review by Andy Kellman, credits & releases
at

The Isley Brothers - ''Baby Makin' Music'' (2006) album releases & credits
at

Discogs Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the la ...

The Isley Brothers - ''Baby Makin' Music'' (2006) album to be listened
as stream on

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{{Authority control 2006 albums Albums produced by Tim & Bob Albums produced by Bryan-Michael Cox Albums produced by Jermaine Dupri Albums produced by R. Kelly Albums produced by Ronald Isley Albums produced by Troy Taylor (record producer) The Isley Brothers albums Def Jam Recordings albums