Philadelphia-bred singer Jaguar Wright made some disturbing allegations against The Roots, Common, Talib Kweli, Erykah Badu, Jill Scott and other members of the Okayplayer collective in the wake of Malik B’s death last week. But evidently, she isn’t done.
On Tuesday (August 4), another one of Wright’s Instagram videos started making the rounds on Twitter. This time, the tenured neo-soul artist unpacked The Roots’ former connection to embattled R&B singer R. Kelly who’s currently behind the bars of a Chicago jail for numerous sex crimes.
In the clip, Wright says she was once told to keep her mouth shut after Kelly’s apparent affinity for underage girls made its way to a studio one night.
“You know how fuckin’ responsible I feel for all the woman I let you hurt because I didn’t say nothing,” she said in part. “I know how grimy these niggas is. I know how thirsty they are and I know nobody’s going to say nothing or do nothing, ’cause as long as you making people money, you can whatever the fuck you want. Look at R. Kelly. The Roots was around when that nigga was in the A Room sending his muthafuckin’ driver off to go get girls from … what was that middle school? I know they picked up girls from Martin Luther King, they picked up girls from Gratz and they picked up girls from VAC, from the bad girls school up Allegheny.
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“They brought ’em to the studio. They brought ’em to Larry Gold Studio. Everybody knew what the fuck was going on in that room, but I was told to mind my muthafuckin’ business if I wanted to keep my career. A member of The Roots told me, ‘That ain’t none of your business. That man makes people millionaires.’ You fuckin’ thirsty bitches.”
Meanwhile, Roots affiliate Dice Raw addressed Wright’s recent diatribes, in particular the notion Black Thought didn’t write all of his raps, and dismissed them as part of her “mental illness.”
After a Twitter user referred to Wright as “that bitch” and demanded she apologize to Thought for lying, Dice replied, “Right but here’s the thing she’s our sister you never heard Black Thought say the word bitch on record or anyone for that matter on a Roots album we not going call her out her name. We going pray for her to come out of this healed. Mental illness is real.”
But Wright stands by her accounts. In another Instagram post, the 43-year-old chanteuse challenged producer Young Guru, who defended ghostwriting allegations fired in Thought’s direction.
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“I love it when people think they know what they’re talking about; yet were not present for any of what they’re speaking on,” she wrote alongside a screenshot of a HipHopDX article. “Right now, there’s a divide. There are people who know the truth, people trolling for favor and fame, and those being paid to spread false propaganda to derail my main purpose. See, small minds need to believe what they’re told. It’s easy! No thought involved.
“But, in order to truly be a free thinker you have to believe in yourself first! I don’t need validation for the truth. I don’t need to prove facts. 2+2=4 there’s no argument! It’s not my fault you don’t want to believe the truth. Lies are easily found out. I want nothing more than the truth to be acknowledged and respected! Anyone who knew #malikb would never have to question a thing!”
Wright also issued a call-to-action to Thought, adding, “Tariq [Trotter] knows the truth. I dare him to tell it! @yunggurusbmg get at me! I’ll tell you all the truth your young ears can handle! Hope you’re not doing this for a spot on the Fallon show tho! Those niggas rarely keep their word. I would know!”
Malik’s untimely death proved to be the catalyst for Wright to speak out. As she noted in an Instagram video from July 31, she’s been holding on to these “lies” for 20 years and felt it was time to finally purge them.
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Jaguar Wright Accuses Common Of Past Sexual Assault In Wake Of Malik B's Death
Perhaps one of the most shocking revelations was the allegation Common once tried to sexually assault her. But so far, neither Common or any members of The Roots have acknowledged Wright’s claims.
