Born on January 9, 1978 in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S., R&B singer Mashonda Dean (née Tifrere) kickstarted her career in 1999 with a feature on Jay-Z's Swizz Beatz-produced single "Girl's Best Friend," which was featured on the soundtrack to Les Mayfield's buddy comedy Blue Streak. That same year she turned up on Eve's "Gotta Man," also produced by Swizz Beatz, which was featured on her debut studio album Let There Be Eve...Ruff Ryders' First Lady. Mashonda dropped her one and only debut solo album, January Joy, in 2005 via J Records and Full Surface Records, which features tracks produced by Kanye West and Swizz Beatz and packed in heavyweight guest spots from Snoop Dogg ("Blackout"), Jadakiss ("Leave the Block Alone") and Nas. Mashonda, who finalized her divorce with Swizz Beatz in 2010 after the producer had an affair with his now-wife Alicia Keys, catapulted herself back into the spotlight in 2011 when she appeared on the first season of VH1's hit reality show Love & Hip Hop: New York. She released the Love, Mashonda mixtape the following year and released singles sporadically throughout the next decade, including 2020's "King."
