Noah “40” Shebib Addresses R. Kelly Being Sampled on Drake’s “TSU”

Noah “40” Shebib is setting the record straight about a certain song from Drake’s new album Certified Lover Boy.

The album, released on Friday, contains a song called “TSU.” The song has a sample of R. Kelly’s 1998 single “Half on a Baby.” Kelly is the only lyricist and composer credited for “Half on a Baby” alongside Justin Timberlake and Timbaland, who also have songs sampled.

After the release of CLB, some people were outraged to learn that R. Kelly was sampled because he’s entitled to royalties.

In an Instagram post sharing an article from British online newspaper The Independent, 40 gave his thoughts on the song in the comments section.

Here’s what he said via HipHop-N-More:

On a song called tsu at the beginning is 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. 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. Doesn’t sit well with me let me just say that. And 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. 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. 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.

Certified Lover Boy is expected to go No. 1 on the Billboard 200, with projections of 575,000 to 625,000 in the first week. Drake released a very comical video for “Way 2 Sexy” on the day of its release, which features Future and Young Thug.