 When Akon was asked to work with Stefani , he reviewed her work , ranging from her music with No Doubt to her solo career . He noted that the sound Stefani had cultivated with No Doubt was missing from her solo work . Stefani , preoccupied with her baby Kingston Rossdale , cancelled their session and commented that she " didn 't want to go through the pain of trying to work with someone [ she ] didn 't know " . Iovine called Stefani , telling her , " You can cancel everything else in your life , but don 't cancel this session . " She decided to work with Akon and expected that they would work on writing a write a generic hip hop song , one that would not fit her well . 
