"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 from Washington, D.C. She is the first female artist to be signed to J. Cole's record label, Dreamville Records. She began gaining re ...

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

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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. The sequel to '' Creed'' (2015) and the eighth installment in the ''Rocky'' franchise, the film stars Mich ...

'', 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 ''

'', 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

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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

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and

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. * 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

Certifications

Release history

References

{{J. Cole 2018 songs 2019 singles Ari Lennox songs J. Cole songs Songs from Rocky (film series) Songs written by Ari Lennox Songs written by J. Cole Dreamville Records singles Interscope Records singles