"Baby Boy" is a song by American singer-songwriter Beyoncé featuring Jamaican deejay Sean Paul, from her debut solo studio album, Dangerously in Love (2003).

"Baby Boy" topped the US Billboard Hot 100 for nine consecutive weeks and was Beyoncé's longest-running number-one single until 2007, when it was surpassed by "Irreplaceable".

"Baby Boy" also reached the top-ten in Australia, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

The next year, American singer-songwriter Jennifer Armour filed a copyright infringement lawsuit claiming that "Baby Boy" had used the primary musical hook from her song "Got a Little Bit of Love for You".

In 2002, Beyoncé went to Miami, Florida, in the United States, to work with American record producer Scott Storch for her debut solo studio album Dangerously in Love.

[2] She and Storch wrote "Baby Boy", with contributions from American songwriter Robert Waller and Beyoncé's now-husband, hip hop artist Jay-Z.

[19] Neil Drumming of Entertainment Weekly noted that "'Baby Boy' goes full-tilt Bollywood 'n da hood, with Sean Paul ripping a pulsing tabla raga".

[22] According to gossip blogger Roger Friedman of Fox News Channel, "Baby Boy" is based on the reggae song "Here Comes the Hotstepper" (1995), performed by Jamaican singer Ini Kamoze.

[3] In 2005, American singer-songwriter Jennifer Armour filed a copyright infringement lawsuit, claiming that Beyoncé had used some lyrics and the musical hook from her song "Got a Little Bit of Love for You".

[31] Mark Anthony Neal of the international webzine PopMatters, regarded "Baby Boy" as one of the "high-profile collaborations" on Dangerously in Love.

[21] Yancey Strickler of the Flak magazine wrote that "'Baby Boy''s diwali stutter is enhanced by Sean Paul's dancehall monotone".

[34] Los Angeles Times writer Natalie Nichols wrote that "the ... house-spiced 'Baby Boy' successfully meld[s] [Beyoncé's] breathy cooing with hip, interesting production.

The track led to a higher Billboard 200 chart placing for Dangerously in Love, and helped the album to attain multi-platinum certification in the United States.

The feat was not broken until her single "Irreplaceable" (2006), from her second album B'Day (2006), spent ten weeks at the top spot from late 2006 until early 2007.

"Baby Boy" stayed on the Hot 100 for twenty-nine weeks,[43] and was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on June 6, 2006.

As the second chorus of the song begins, the video is cut with scenes of Beyoncé and four backup dancers dancing on a platform in the sand on the beach.

[55] "Baby Boy" premiered on MTV's program Total Request Live on August 25, 2003, at number ten and reached the top spot.

[56] Beyoncé first performed "Baby Boy" live at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards;[58] she sang it in a medley with the pre-recorded vocals of Paul.

During her performance of the song on the tour, she was initially suspended from the ceiling of the arena that was gradually lowered to a red lounger—a prop she also used during the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards.

[65] Jon Pareles of The New York Times praised the performance, writing that Beyoncé "needs no distractions from her singing, which can be airy or brassy, tearful or vicious, rapid-fire with staccato syllables or sustained in curlicued melismas.

When her performance began, she was suspended in the air, and then lowered to the B-stage to where she sang "Baby Boy" with an excerpt from Dawn Penn's "You Don't Love Me (No, No, No)".

[67] Beyoncé was accompanied by her backing band Suga Mama, which consisted of two drummers, two keyboardists, a percussionist, a horn section, three imposing backup vocalists and the lead guitarist Bibi McGill.

[70] At the 2005 ASCAP Pop Music Awards, "Baby Boy", along with Beyoncé's two other singles from Dangerously in Love – "Me, Myself and I" and "Naughty Girl" – was recognized as one of the most performed songs of 2004.

[74][75] Jim Farber of the Daily News wrote: "The first, and last parts of the show stressed the steeliest Beyoncé, told in bold songs... [like] dancehall-inflected 'Baby Boy.