Every week, a different FADER editor compiles a playlist to highlight a new release and give you a guide to that artist’s web of influences and peers. These Staff Selects live in our Spotify app, alongside GEN Fs from our archives and playlists for each issue. This week, it's Deidre Dyer on Baby Mama Drama.
This playlist started as a fun idea in our office one day. Listening to the tracks, it's clear to see that a trifling baby mama can really be a dude's Achilles' heel, the soft spot that will cause them to check out of the game mentally, emotionally and financially. From Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean" right on down to the formerly squeaky-clean pop phenom Justin Beiber's "Maria," males in the limelight are apparently always facing down pregnant groupies pointing fingers, paternity tests and, pending positive results, child support payments. While most men run from this sticky situation, there are some like Vybz Kartel who try to entice new women by boasting that they're the "Best Baby Daddy" around. I've also thrown in songs from Mary J. Blige and Sade, to include the much-needed female perspective among all the disparaging taunts. Capping off the playlist, like the baby daddy MVP with 11 children from 10 women, is Shawty Lo, whose controversial, scrapped reality show All My Babies' Mamas is reportedly receiving new offers from TV networks that still want it to see the light of day.
Staff Selects: Baby Mama Drama
