Songfacts®:

• Cymande released "Bra" as the second single from their self-titled debut studio album. Written by guitarist Patrick Patterson and bassist Steve Scipio, it was recorded at De Lane Lea Studios in London, and produced by British R&B producer John Schroeder.
• The creation of "Bra" started with the bass. "How we were writing at the time is that the bass was used melodically," Scipio told Uncut magazine. "I'd go to Patrick with an idea and often he'd start putting stuff on top of that. In some songs, the vocals were the last thing to be developed. Normally it's the other way round."
  
  "When I was laying things on top, I was just thinking about patterns to fit," Patterson added. "I'm a touch player, not a heavyweight player, so I'm bouncing off Steve rather than setting a thing myself."
• The band had written most of the album before they entered the studio because those were the songs they were using on the road. They honed them while they were gigging.
  
  "Bra" was one of their most popular songs at gigs, and fans especially loved the middle break with just bass and drums. "I'm playing four-to-the-bar on a bass drum," drummer Sam Kelly told Uncut. "We were just trying to think how we could join the middle of this song to the end."
• The song is a celebration of brotherhood and friendship. "'Bra' is slang for brother," Scipio explained to Uncut. "Within our community, everybody knew what it meant. It was only when we went to the States that you might have people saying, why are they singing about brasseries?"
• The track became a foundation stone of early hip-hop, sampled by a string of artists. They include:
  
  Sugarhill Gang in their single "Work, Work, the Body," released in 1985
  Gang Starr in their song, "Movin' On," from the 1989 album No More Mr. Nice Guy
  De La Soul in their song "Change in Speak," from their 1989 album 3 Feet High and Rising
  
  Raze also sampled "Bra" in their early house hit "Jack the Groove," which reached #20 on the UK Singles chart in 1985.
• "Bra" features in these movies:
  
  1994 Spike Lee's Crooklyn
  1998 John Jacobsen's Around the Fire
  2002 Spike Lee's 25th Hour
  2007 Martin Gero's Young People F---ing
  2021 Joachim Trier's The Worst Person in the World