Ari Lennox’s Shea Butter Baby was one 2019’s gems, a true fan favorite that was unfortunately overlooked by the entertainment industry establishment. Those doubters and sleepers are getting a second chance to give Lennox her props with the release of the Shea Butter Baby (Remix EP), which dropped at midnight.
Featuring new spins on fan-favorite tracks from the original album — “BMO,” “I Been,” and “Facetime” — Lennox taps a few new collaborators to breathe new life into the soulful tracks, including singer Durand Bernarr, smooth St. Louis rapper Smino, and the immensely popular rapper-singer Doja Cat. Cole, Craig Brockman, Omen, Ron Gilmore, and Elite provide production, as Smino croons along on “I Been,” Doja offers a verse to “BMO,” and Deniro provides a counterpoint to Ari’s feminine perspective on “Facetime.”
It’ll be hard for Ari to fly under the radar after this. Her profile has already risen sharply, both from her collaborative efforts with some of hip-hop’s biggest stars and her fellow Dreamville artists on Revenge Of The Dreamers III and its “director’s cut” deluxe version, and from her fierce presence on social media, which has drawn even more eyeballs after Lennox became the center of several heated debates.
Shea Butter Baby (Remix EP) is out now on Dreamville/Interscope Records. Get it here.
