Baby Makin' Music is the thirtieth studio album by the American Ohio musical soul group, the Isley Brothers (with bandleader Ronald Isley 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-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 chart. Album sales were helped by the R&B chart success of the first single, "Just Came Here to Chill", and the R. Kelly duet, "Blast Off", which is the only collaboration with Kelly on this album, after he produced their last album, Body Kiss (2003).
Other producers on Baby Makin' Music include Gordon Chambers, Jermaine Dupri, Tim & Bob 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.[1][2]
In October 2003, five months following the release of their predecessor, Body Kiss, which achieved commercial success,[3] and almost a month ahead of the release of Ronald Isley and Burt Bacharach's collaborative album, Here I Am, the group's label, DreamWorks Records, previously a music label subsidiary of DreamWorks Pictures, was acquired by Universal Music Group and then folded into Interscope Geffen A&M Records.[4] 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.[5] Around that time, Def Jam was already under new leadership of former Arista Records chairman L.A. Reid, following the departure of Lyor Cohen, Kevin Liles and its co-founder Russell Simmons.[6]
The album's lead single, "You Helped Me Write This Song", was released in October 2005, after it leaked on pirate radio last June.[citation needed]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.
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