Anita Baker, Snoop Dogg to Collaborate on New Album

Revered R&B singer Anita Baker is releasing an album with some surprising guest artists next year, according to reports.

The record will feature a combination of live performances and new music Baker wrote for other singers, as well as collaborations with contemporary artists, including the unlikely pairing of eight-time Grammy winner Baker and rapper Snoop Dogg.

The Ohio-born soul singer was quick to explain that, although she's working with rappers and more contemporary singers, the music will not be a major departure from her sound. "It will be an Anita Baker record, but it will have a lot of surprising elements in it," Baker told Billboard. "We'll take a lot of our contemporaries and bring them into my project where they may fit."

The collaboration with Snoop will be a cover of Curtis Mayfield classic 'Give Me Your Love (Love Song),' from the 'Superfly' soundtrack.

"We do it in a very contemporary way, a very grown-up way," Baker continued. "It's lovely, who knew that Snoop is madly in love with his wife, you know? We've got a chance to see that in the way his music has grown, so when he comes in to do dialogue over that love theme, it becomes very grown-up and contemporary at the same time."

Baker's upcoming album (her seventh studio record) will be distributed by legendary jazz label Blue Note records, and is scheduled for release next spring.