Throwback Thursday: Beyoncé – “Baby Boy” (featuring Sean Paul)
In the summer of 2003, after leading the charts for eight weeks with “Crazy in Love,” Beyoncé followed up with a single that proved that its predecessor was not a fluke.
“Baby Boy” (featuring Sean Paul) was a perfect mix of R&B, dancehall and Middle Eastern sounds, and in many ways, serves as a microcosm of what was going on in popular music at the time. Contemporary R&B was dominating the charts and Beyoncé was its new queen; dancehall was red hot and Sean Paul was its undisputed king; and Indian/Middle Eastern instrumentation could be heard throughout hip-hop and R&B.
Co-produced by Beyoncé and Scott Storch, “Baby Boy” is now among Bey’s signature chunes. The song was written by Bey, Storch, Sean Paul, Robert Waller and Shawn Carter. Yes, Shawn Carter as in Beyoncé‘s now-husband, Jay-Z. They were dating at the time, so he must have been in the studio during the Dangerously in Love sessions because he’s credited on two other songs on which he’s not featured. A songwriting king.
“Baby Boy” became Bey’s second No. 1 as a solo artist, ruling the charts for nine weeks – a week longer than the reign of “Crazy in Love.”
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