On Friday, September 3, Drake released his hotly anticipated studio album, Certified Lover Boy. In addition to the glamourous list of contributors that audiences have been teased with including, JAY-Z, Lil Wayne, Young Thug, to name just a few, the credits for Certified Lover Boy, listed convicted abuser R. Kelly as a co-lyricist.
The credit appears on the song ‘TSU’. Now, Drake collaborator Noah ’40’ Shebib, who worked as one of the several producers on the album, has made a statement regarding the R. Kelly credit. Shebib wrote on Instagram on September 5, “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.”
Shebib weighed in as a response to another Instagram post that shared a photo of an Independent headline that reads: “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”, in response to the recently published biography of the late singer Aaliyah. He continued. “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.”
Shebib also mentioned in the statement that at the inception of ‘TSU’, there is 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,” he explains. “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 licence it.”
Certified Lover Boy has been released to mixed reactions from critics and audiences. Listen below.
