Drake producer Noah “40” Shebib has attempted to explain the R. Kelly credit on Certified Lover Boy, calling it “misleading.”
After weeks of buildup, full of mysterious billboards and even the hijacking of a sports TV show, Drake’s new album finally arrived on Friday, September 3rd. It’s received strong reviews and not-so-strong reviews; it’s been made into a meme thanks to it’s intriguing album cover.
People started noticing something more unsavoury though, calling attention to the fact that R. Kelly, currently undergoing trial in Los Angeles for sexual abuse, was listed as a co-lyricist on the album (it really wouldn’t have been good publicity if his name had appeared on those billboards announcing CLB’s collaborators). The credit appears on a song called ‘TSU’.
Now, as per Pitchfork, Drake’s collaborator Noah “40” Shebib, one of the producers on the record, has made a statement attempting to clear up the R. Kelly credit. “I’m not here to defend drakes lyrics, but I thought I would clear up that there is no actual r Kelly present and it’s a bit misleading to call him a co lyricist,” he wrote in an Instagram comment. Shebib’s comment came in response to an Instagram post that shared a picture of an Independent headline which read, “Certified Lover Boy: Drake album credits R. Kelly as co-lyricist.”
“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,” Shebib continued, referring to the recently published biography of Aaliyah. “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.”
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Shebib also revealed just exactly how R. Kelly features, showing that his presence on the song was minuscule. He explained that at the beginning of ‘TSU’, there’s a sample of OG Ron C talking. “Behind that faintly which you can’t even hear is an r Kelly song playing in the background,” he explained. “It has no significance no lyrics are present, r Kelly’s voice isn’t even present but if we wanted to use Ron c talking we were forced to license it.”
Well that’s that then. It might have been unintentional on Drake’s part but it’s certainly still not a good look having R. Kelly listed as a credit. What is it with rappers and having bad people feature on their albums?
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Listen to ‘TSU’ by Drake:
