The iconic hip-hop and jazz-infused theme song for the classic 1990s sitcom Living Single, “We Are Living Single,” was actually Queen Latifah’s second attempt. As she revealed on the ReLiving Single podcast to co-hosts and former castmates Erika Alexander and Kim Coles, the show’s original title necessitated a “completely different,” more soulful version that never aired.
Data Points: The Two Theme Songs
| Version | Show Title | Musical Style | Latifah’s Description | Collaborator |
| Original | My Girls | Soulful, Vibe-y | “Totally different, completely different but very soulful, just vibe-y, and I like to sing and rap and mix it all together.” | Unknown |
| Final | Living Single | Hip-Hop Beat with Beautiful Notes and Jazz | “A mixture of his hip-hop beat with these beautiful notes and a little bit of jazz at the end that was perfect.” | Def Jef |
The Reason for the Change
Queen Latifah, a rapper and musician first, took it upon herself to create the show’s intro music, recognizing that theme songs are what “resonate in your minds.”
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Original Concept: She initially wrote and recorded a theme song for the show’s working title, My Girls. This version was described as “totally different” and “very soulful.”
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The Title Change: The network and producers decided to change the show’s name to Living Single, a decision Latifah admitted she was “arguing” against in the office.
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Back to the Lab: The title change forced her to “take it back to the lab” to create a track that better reflected the new name and the show’s concept of “these four girls doing their thing.”
Crafting the Iconic Final Version
For the final version, Queen Latifah enlisted the help of rapper and producer Def Jef.
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The Beat: Def Jef provided the hip-hop foundation, doing “the beat on the machine for me.”
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The Lyrics: Latifah wrote the rhyme, chopping up the now-iconic opening lyric, “Check, check, check out.”
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The Hook: She described crafting the chorus to balance the hip-hop energy with her “sensitive” side, creating the famous melodic hook: “We are living (Ooh) / Single (Hey).”
This final blend of hip-hop, soul, and jazz became the soundtrack for the iconic Fox sitcom, which ran from 1993 to 1998 and carved out a significant space for Black female representation in television.