See Brandy, Erykah Badu, Teyana Taylor, H.E.R.’s BET Hip Hop Awards Cypher

Brandy, Erykah Badu, Teyana Taylor and H.E.R. joined forces for an empowering cypher during the BET Hip Hop Awards 2020 on Tuesday. They freestyled over Brandy’s 1994 gem, “I Wanna Be Down.”

With Badu behind the decks, Teyana Taylor was up first, slickly setting the mood. “The tone is what I set it/If you want it come and get it, don’t forget it.” H.E.R. followed, giving props to her Filipina heritage and she paid tribute to Breonna Taylor. “Black queens with dreams/Beautiful, exceptional,” she raps. “Say you wanna be down, but still ain’t arrest them, though.”

Badu served double duty beyond the turntables, taking her turn at the mic. “Look, I’m about to go in,” she raps in her takedown, armed with boxing gloves hanging from her neck. “I’m about to get inside these bitches heads.”

Brandy wrapped it up with a potent verse. “Black females we gonna flourish in these conditions/Born to front lines, not in your kitchen/I’m on a mission,” she raps, ending with “And if they say the sky is the limit, then buy a cloud/And if they can’t see us as an equal, they not allowed” before she righteously donned a crown.