# I can spit hot fire on Baby Got Back: Sterling K Brown’s honest playlist

The star of new thriller Paradise loves musicals and feels mild shame at enjoying Vengaboys. But which star made him realize he could sing?

## The first song I fell in love with
I was in elementary school and If I Had No Loot by Tony! Toni! Toné! was getting a lot of play on BET – Black Entertainment . I love the vibe. It has a good bounce. I like things that make me move and this is one song you can’t help but move to.

## The first single I bought
I remember buying Don’t Be Cruel by Bobby Brown because everybody was jamming out to Prerogative. I bought it from Streetside Records in St Louis, Missouri, where you could listen to albums on headphones before you bought them.

## The song I do at karaoke
I don’t like people judging my vocals, but I can spit hot fire on the rap to Baby Got Back by Sir Mix-a-Lot. It comes from the heart, because I actually do like big butts.

## The song I know every lyric to
I know a lot of musicals. Ragtime is one of my favorites. The character Coalhouse Walker Jr. sings Wheels of a Dream with the mother of his child. It’s a beautiful duet. When I saw it, I fell in love with it, and went out and immediately memorized the song.

## The song I secretly like
Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom!! by Vengaboys is the jam. I’d be worried Black people might be like: “What, you listen to that stuff?” Hell, yeah. That song slaps.

## The best song to get the party started
A lot of women will go to Prince. Prince is great, but Cupid by 112 has this hypnotic beat and a sweetness when you get the party started. You want to start it off sweet for the ladies, but they like to finish with a little bit of edge.

## The best song to have sex to
Oh! I thought that’s what you meant by “get the party started” … The best song to have sex to is Cupid by 112, and the best song to get an actual party started is Poison by Bell Biv DeVoe.

## The song that changed my life
As a kid I used to try to sing like Aaron Hall, who performs on Let’s Chill by the band Guy. His voice fell right where mine was. It was a lot better than trying to hit the falsetto high notes on Whitney Houston. Singing the hell out of that song made me realize that I could sing.

## The song that makes me cry
For Good from Wicked. And a song called A Part of Us from a musical called Once on This Island.

## The song I’d like played at my funeral
Happy by Pharrell Williams. Hopefully it’ll be a celebration of a life well lived, and I’ll be in a better place, so I’ll go ahead and leave with a smile on my face.

_Paradise is streaming on Disney+ now._

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