Black Music Month Spotlight: LaShawn Daniels

The Boy Is Mine – Brandy and Monica

How could any of us forget the mega-watt hit “The Boy Is Mine”? The duet between Brandy and Monica was also the song that fueled the (kinda true) rumors that the two were beefing with one another in real life. They later admitted that they had their issues, that came to blows, but it didn’t have anything to do with a man…we think. Either way, the song was written by Daniels, Rodney Jerkins, Fred Jerkins III and Brandy. Some of you may know it was an answer song to Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney’s “The Girl Is Mine.” “The Boy Is Mine” ended up becoming the first number one hit for both Monica and Brandy and was also the best selling song that year. It was at the top of the Billboard charts for 13 weeks. The song was awarded a Grammy for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group and also received a nomination for record of the year.

Brandy came up with the concept for the song while watching the show “Jerry Springer” which was detailing a love triangle among his guests. Brandy originally recorded the song alone but she and Jerkins thought it would be better as a duet and Brandy suggested Monica. There were already rumors about their feud and Brandy thought this song would squash those. Whoops. It did the exact opposite.

In 2008, Billboard ranked the song as it’s All-Time Top 100 Songs from the past 50 years.