[MUSIC] From the beginning of my life I'd always loved R n B. I listened to Stevie Wonder's when I first fell in love with R n B. Stevie Wonder and Micheal Jackson Al Green, Gladys Knight as well. When I was a little, little kid so I fell in love and then I guess I was growing up still Michael Jackson of course because he was always there and Prince and then also there was always Hip HOp. I'm from New York, this is the birth place of HIp hop. Some may disagree but that's what I believe The album that I love so much was Father MC and it had Jodeci and had Mary. And a lot of people knew it but a lot of people didn't. And I was like telling people, is like this is gonna be the next thing everybody is gonna be in to so you might as well listen to this and see where it's going. When you've worked with so many great talents. And I have, and there's people that I've worked with that nobody will ever be able to work with again because they're not even here anymore. I look at that and say I'm so blessed to be able to have done that. And then I look at like, when people like the brat came out tonight for the essence fest. That was great because we are Truly a, friends and collaborators and Jermaine was there. It's hard to explain but when you really have a good connection with artists, that's the best. Essence is the best. My Essence cover and story are my favorite. I truly feel grateful so it's been nice to be here. Here. Thank you. [MUSIC]

The singer who perfected the R&B and hip-hop mashup, has a few more rappers she'd like to work with.

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French Montana recently gained his first No.1 song on the Billboard Hot Rap Songs chart with “Unforgettable,” so it’s befitting that he asked the Queen of No. 1 records to grace the remix.

“I had worked with French Montana before but we never released the single, so this time around we were like, let’s just do it,” Mariah Carey told ESSENCE.

The track (here), which also features Swae Lee, has proven to be one of the hottest songs of the summer and is only hotter with the added bonus of Mariah’s signature vocals floating over the hook. The collaboration could be a prelude to what we will hear on her new 15th studio album.

“I can’t give too much away,” she said. “I hope to work with [French Montana] on this album. He’s one of my favorite people to work with. I [also] hope to work with Travis Scott and I’d love to work with Kendrick Lamar too. Who doesn’t love Kendrick?”

In addition to working on new music, Carey is currently on All The Hits tour with Lionel Richie and has a residency at The Colosseum in Las Vegas.