While Drake revealed many of his Certified Lover Boy collaborators on billboards ahead of the album's release last Friday (September 3), the rapper was a little quieter about a credit given to alleged abuser R. Kelly on the track "TSU," where he was named as a co-lyricist.
Drake's longtime collaborator and one of many CLB producers, Noah "40" Shebib, is here to clarify the credit — via an Instagram comment — even though he's "not here to defend drakes [sic] lyrics."
"I thought I would clear up that there is no actual r Kelly [sic] present and it's a bit misleading to call him a co lyricist," 40 wrote yesterday (September 5) on a post made by artist and activist Ravyn Wngz. It was a screenshot of an article by The Independent revealing the accreditation, captioned "Thoughts."
The producer elaborated on how the beginning of "TSU" uses a sample of DJ OG Ron C talking. "Behind that faintly which you can't even hear is an r Kelly song playing in the background," 40 continued. "It has no significance no lyrics are present, r Kelly's voice isn't even present but if we wanted to use Ron c [sic] talking we were forced to license it."
"It's kinda wild cause I was just reading 'Baby Girl' by Kathy Iandoli and the recounts of some of that stuff is horrific and disgusting," 40 added, in reference to the journalist's newly published Aaliyah biography. (40 and Drake once controversially proposed a posthumous album release for the beloved late R&B artist.)
"Then I saw this post and just had to say something because to think we would stand beside that guy or write with him is just incredibly disgusting," the producer explained.
Yeah, it kind of is, isn't it? R. Kelly is currently incarcerated — where he was allegedly attacked by a fellow inmate — and awaiting trial for numerous charges of sexual misconduct. He has denied all allegations.
Back in 2019, 40 backed NDP candidate Jagmeet Singh at his "Momentum Rally."
You can see the Instagram post and the OVO producer's comment addressing the situation below.
Of the other slew of CLB collaborators, Drake reunited with Kawhi Leonard in the video for "Way 2 Sexy."
Drake's longtime collaborator and one of many CLB producers, Noah "40" Shebib, is here to clarify the credit — via an Instagram comment — even though he's "not here to defend drakes [sic] lyrics."
"I thought I would clear up that there is no actual r Kelly [sic] present and it's a bit misleading to call him a co lyricist," 40 wrote yesterday (September 5) on a post made by artist and activist Ravyn Wngz. It was a screenshot of an article by The Independent revealing the accreditation, captioned "Thoughts."
The producer elaborated on how the beginning of "TSU" uses a sample of DJ OG Ron C talking. "Behind that faintly which you can't even hear is an r Kelly song playing in the background," 40 continued. "It has no significance no lyrics are present, r Kelly's voice isn't even present but if we wanted to use Ron c [sic] talking we were forced to license it."
"It's kinda wild cause I was just reading 'Baby Girl' by Kathy Iandoli and the recounts of some of that stuff is horrific and disgusting," 40 added, in reference to the journalist's newly published Aaliyah biography. (40 and Drake once controversially proposed a posthumous album release for the beloved late R&B artist.)
"Then I saw this post and just had to say something because to think we would stand beside that guy or write with him is just incredibly disgusting," the producer explained.
Yeah, it kind of is, isn't it? R. Kelly is currently incarcerated — where he was allegedly attacked by a fellow inmate — and awaiting trial for numerous charges of sexual misconduct. He has denied all allegations.
Back in 2019, 40 backed NDP candidate Jagmeet Singh at his "Momentum Rally."
You can see the Instagram post and the OVO producer's comment addressing the situation below.
Of the other slew of CLB collaborators, Drake reunited with Kawhi Leonard in the video for "Way 2 Sexy."