'Boy Is Mine' Co-Producer Dallas Austin Claims He Saw Monica Punch Brandy before 1st Live Duet

"The Boy is Mine" co-producer Dallas Austin opened up about the decades-long feud between Monica and Brandy which escalated when the former punched the latter in the face before performing their duet at an awards show.

Last year, singer Monica paid tribute to her former nemesis, Brandy during a concert.

“I want y’all to make some noise for the woman – this is the only Grammy I ever won in my whole life, the only time they called a little black girl from the country to the big stage – was with this amazing person, Ms. Brandy Norwood," she said.

The gesture was a telling sign that all was well between the former collaborators whose 1999 hit, “The Boy is Mine” had a deeper story to tell than the rivalry that it depicted among two women.

ON RECORDING THEIR DUET APART

Dallas Austin, the man who co-produced the song recently shed light on what really went down between Brandy and Monica while recording their song. It’s no secret that the two didn’t see eye to eye at the time but nobody knew how far their animosity towards each other went until recently.

“Before they could even get to the stage, Monica decked her [Brandy] in the face, popped her in the face backstage.”

According to Dallas during an interview on VladTv, Monica and Brandy who had some “heavyweight beef” with each other were never on the same room when they recorded the duet. Dallas recalled,

“Monica was like, ‘Nope. I’m not doing no song with her.’ I was like, ‘C’mon. You got it. It just makes the most sense. Clive [Davis] wants it. Let’s just do it.’”

When he finally convinced Monica, he devised a way for the two not to be together during recording.

“I did Monica’s stuff out here and they did Brandy’s out there. And the first time they actually saw each other to do it, I think it was the American Music Awards or something.”

“Monica never liked Brandy and Monica was very ghetto when it came down to it. She was like, ‘She’s too proper and she’s too this..."

THE PUNCHING INCIDENT

It was actually during the 1998 MTV Video Music Awards when Monica and Brandy were forced to be together for the first time on stage. And that didn’t turn out well according to Dallas (see clip below).

“Before they could even get to the stage, Monica decked her [Brandy] in the face, popped her in the face backstage,” he recounted while slamming his fist into his palm to demonstrate.

“And I went ‘Oh my God!’ So everybody was like ‘How are we going to have a performance that looks they’re not at war with each other?’ But it worked out because the song is they’re supposed to be at war with each other so nobody could tell that she punched her in the face before the performance.”

For decades the two ladies had a silent feud that seemed to have ended by 2012 when they recorded the single, “It All Belongs to Me.”

THE REASON BEHIND THE FEUD

So why did Monica punch Brandy? According to Dallas, Monica never liked the singer, to begin with.

“Monica never liked Brandy and Monica was very ghetto when it came down to it. She was like, ‘She’s too proper and she’s too this.’ And I think Brandy might have looked at her a certain way a couple of times.”

He added,,

“And Monica was at the epitome of finding her real self. She had went through a lot of stuff. And her real self, if you didn’t have gold teeth, she didn’t like you. So she was really hood in Atlanta and she wasn’t wit it. I still don’t think she’s all the way wit it.”

FRIENDS NOW

For decades the two ladies had a silent feud that seemed to have ended by 2012 when they recorded the single, “It All Belongs to Me.” At the time they had already buried the hatchet though details of when and how the feud ended are not clear.

Weeks ahead of Monica’s tribute to Brandy during her 2018 show, the latter appeared to throw shade at her former nemesis when she changed the lyrics to “the song is mine” when singing their duet at the Essence Festival. We're guessing it was all in the spirit of poking fun at the past though she came under fire because of it.

Monica also confirmed that she and Brandy were in a good place when she sat down with Ru Paul in July and revealed her take on the alleged feud.

"...since in the song we were feuding, it basically kind of created that atmosphere and it became almost like a real thing through our teenage years," she explained. "But we’re adults now; nobody got time to fight,” she added.