In the last week, Bobby Brown has been back in the spotlight. BET broadcast The Bobby Brown Story, a follow-up to 2017’s New Edition mini-series. Bobby Brown is a producer on the special. While Woody McCain reprised his role as the Boston, Massachusetts chart-topper on the small screen, the real-life Bobby Brown is still making big moves with music.

“Like Bobby” is a rare single from Brown, who last released The Masterpiece in 2012. The single reunites Bobby with Babyface, the collaborating producer (and sometimes songwriter) behind some of B.B.’s most remarkable music (“Don’t Be Cruel,” “Every Little Step,” “Humpin’ Around”). Teddy Riley was a budding musician on 1988’s sophomore, Don’t Be Cruel, helped give the New Edition alum a New Jack Swing style. He is credited with drum programming, mixing, and background vocals on that #1 LP, with brother Markell also contributing. “My Prerogative” featured strong contributions from Babyface and Teddy Riley and remains Bobby’s first and only #1. On 1992’s follow-up, Bobby, Teddy Riley stepped in as a credited producer. He divided the LP with Babyface and L.A. Reid. On the song’s intro, the trio professes that this follows the “recipe for hits.”

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The reunion song samples The Roots’ “The Next Movement” from 1999’s Things Fall Apart. Back then, Questlove and Black Thought were emerging voices on the same MCA Records label that New Edition and Brown helped bring to a boil in the late ’80s and early ’90s. Bobby uses the track to be his most unapologetic self, and scoff at rumor mills and naysayers. That’s what he was doing so well 30 years ago, and with a career filled with truly cinematic moments on and off the stage, “Like Bobby” owns the legend of all of it.

Notably, Bobby Brown returns to the major label system after an indie run, as this ’18 single releases through Interscope.