Lenny Kravitz helped Madonna write and produce this sultry song, where Madonna whispers most of the lyrics. It was the first single from her highly anticipated Immaculate Collection compilation album, and created plenty of sales-generating controversy for the singer, who was known for pushing the limits of sexual content.
Ingrid Chavez, a singer who had worked with Prince, sued for royalties, claiming she wrote the song with Kravitz. According to Chavez, Kravitz came up with the title, but the rest of the lyric - minus one line Madonna changed - came from her. "Lenny recorded a synth line and then he asked me if I had something I wanted to say," she told Vibe. "I had a letter on me (my letters are like poems) and so I got on the mic and basically read the letter. One take and the rest is history." The case was settled out of court in 1992, with Chavez getting a composer credit along with Kravitz and Madonna.
This samples a beat from a Public Enemy song called "Security Of The First World," an instrumental from their album It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back, which in turn samples "Ashley's Roachclip," a 1974 track by The Soul Searchers that has been used hundreds of times. Public Enemy used many samples themselves and had no claim to the original beat, so they didn't sue Madonna or Kravitz. Public Enemy's producer, Hank Shocklee, capitalized on the publicity by having a group called the Young Black Teenagers record an answer song using the same beat called "To My Donna."
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