Nivea, listed in MusicBrainz as a US R&B singer, is one of the genre's early-2000s crossover success stories. Her record carries the aliases Nivea B. Hamilton and Nivea B. Nash, both reflecting the surname changes that came with her personal life over the years, and her tags span American R&B, hip hop, and jazz influences.
The Breakthrough Feature
Nivea's rise began with a guest feature on Mystikal's 2000 hit "Danger (Been So Long)," a placement that put her voice in front of a national audience and set up her own recording deal. That momentum carried directly into her self-titled 2001 debut album, which brought in collaborators including Pusha T, Lil Wayne, and the R&B group Jagged Edge.
"Don't Mess with My Man"
The biggest moment of her career came with "Don't Mess with My Man," released in 2002 as the third single from her debut and featuring Brian and Brandon Casey of Jagged Edge. The song became her first and only top-10 pop hit, peaking at number eight on the Billboard Hot 100, going gold in France, and cracking the top 10 in both France and New Zealand. It also earned her a Grammy nomination for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal — a notable achievement for an artist still early in her recording career.
Later Work
Nivea's second album, "Complicated" (2005), leaned heavily on production from her then-husband, the songwriter and producer known as The-Dream, marking a stylistic shift toward the more atmospheric, synth-driven R&B sound he became known for shaping across the industry.
Legacy
While Nivea's chart run was relatively brief, "Don't Mess with My Man" remains a fixture of early-2000s R&B radio nostalgia, and her early collaborations trace an interesting map of the Dirty South R&B and hip-hop crossover moment that defined the era.
Sources
Biographical details drawn from web research alongside the MusicBrainz artist record.