Chance The Rapper Pulls R. Kelly Collab “Somewhere in Paradise” From Streaming Services
Amid the abuse allegations that resurfaced after the airing of Surviving R. Kelly, Chance The Rapper has removed his R. Kelly collab "Somewhere in Paradise" from streaming services.
"Somewhere in Paradise" was released in 2015 and it featured Chance and Kelly's fellow Chicago native Jeremih. The Social Experiment's Corin Roddick, Peter Cottontale, Nate Fox and Donnie Trumpet supply the live instrumentation for the track. Prior to pulling the song, Chance told journalist Jamilah Lemieux that he regretted making the track with R. Kelly.
“Making a song with R. Kelly was a mistake. I didn’t value the accusers’ stories because they were Black women,” Chance said in an interview that appeared in Surviving R. Kelly on Jan. 6. “I made a mistake.”
Chance caught backlash for his choice of words, which he later went on record to say his quote was taken out of context.
"The quote was taken out of context, but the truth is any of us who ever ignored the R Kelly stories, or ever believed he was setup/attacked by the system (as black men often are) were doing so at the detriment of black women and girls," Chance wrote in a note he posted to Twitter on Jan. 5. "I apologize to all of his survivors for working with him and for taking this long to speak out."
Chance is not the only artist removing their collaborations with the embattled singer from streaming services. TMZ reports that Celine Dion has removed her 1998 R. Kelly collab "I'm Your Angel" from YouTube, while Ciara has requested that Sony take their 2006 collab “Promise (Go and Get Your Tickets Mix)” off streaming and iTunes. Meanwhile, Lady Gaga has also removed their 2013 R. Kelly collab, "Do What U Want" from all platforms after issuing an apology for making the song. Pussycat Dolls have asked Interscope to pull 2008’s “Out of This Club” from all streaming.
R. Kelly is currently under criminal investigation in Georgia, with the city of Chicago looking into the allegations as well.
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