Even Bobby must have looked up from his mirrored coffee table and laughed when he heard that Britney Spears wanted to cover his signature song, but after drinking and smoking away every little cent he made, he was lucid enough to recognize a potential financial windfall when he saw it. So, sign off he did on “My Prerogative”, his baby, the non-cocaine-based substance that defines his musical career. As jam packed with hits as 1988’s “Don’t Be Cruel” was, “My Prerogative” remains Bobby’s sole #1 on the U.S. Hot 100, a song that is an amalgamation of everything Brown stood for: being rich, single, ready to mingle and unconcerned about being doused with Haterade. The song was also the funkiest track on the charts and it fit Bobby to a T as it allowed him to show off the singing and limber dance moves that moved Whitney to pin the “King of R&B” moniker on him. It’s also the song that put Teddy Riley on the pop world map, an accolade that Riley built upon. (Bobby’s fortunes turned downward pretty quickly and that’s why he needed someone of Spears’ stature to cover his music.)