Chance The Rapper has pulled his R. Kelly collaboration “Somewhere In Paradise” from streaming services in the aftermath of Lifetime’s Surviving R. Kelly docu-series. The 2015 track is no longer on available outlets such as Apple Music and Spotify but remains on YouTube and SoundCloud as of Tuesday afternoon (January 15).
The removal of “Somewhere In Paradise” adds Chance to a growing list of artists who are scrubbing their Kelly collaborations from streaming services. Last week, Lady Gaga vowed to remove her “Do What U Want (With My Body)” duet with Kelly from digital platforms. Celine Dion followed suit and directed her team to remove 1998’s “I’m Your Angel” collab with Kelly from streaming services.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qs-L048YlJk
Chance has said “making a song with R. Kelly was a mistake.” Despite his regret, the Grammy Award winner faced scrutiny for saying he “didn’t value the accusers’ stories because they were black women” in an interview clip included in the Surviving R. Kelly docu-series.
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After it aired, Chance said his remarks were taken out of context. He also posted a portion of the original interview with writer Jamilah Lemieux.
“The quote was taken out of context, but the truth is any of us who ever ignored R Kelly stories, or ever believe he was being setup/attacked by the system (as black men often are) were doing so at the detriment of back women and girls,” he wrote on Twitter. “I apologize to all of his survivors for working with him and for taking this long to speak out.”
Chance’s unedited comments about working with Kelly can be read below.
“Making a song with R. Kelly was a mistake,” he told Lemieux. “At the time, it wasn’t even present in my mind that people could feel any type of way about his presence on a track of mine. I think for a long time I was only able to understand R. Kelly’s situation and presence in the world when it comes down to his trial and his accusations and his accusers as a victim. I don’t know if that’s because I’m from Chicago or ‘cause he made great music or ‘cause he is a black man.
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“We’re programmed to really be hypersensitive to black male oppression. But black women are exponentially [a] higher oppressed and violated group of people just in comparison to the whole world. Maybe I didn’t care because I didn’t value the accusers’ stories because they were black women. Usually, niggas that get in trouble for shit like this on their magnitude of celebrity, it’s light-skinned women or white women. That’s when it’s a big story. I’ve never really seen any pictures of R. Kelly’s accusers.”
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