Drake Gives R. Kelly Writing Credit on Certified Lover Boy Album

As Drake fans digest and dissect the lyrics and features on his 21-song album, Certified Lover Boy, it looks like Drizzy has also given a writing credit to R. Kelly.

About an hour after all the other new music releases arrived this morning (Sept. 3), Drake dropped his long-awaited LP, CLB. The album contains a slew of features from some of the rapper’s fellow peers, production from a number of beatmakers, including some from his hometown of Toronto, and on one song in particular, “TSU,” the disgraced R&B singer is acknowledged for his contribution to the track.

It appears that the beginning of “TSU,” around the :20-mark samples the :14-mark of Kelly’s 1998 song, “Half on a Baby.” While no words from R. Kelly’s track were used on Drake’s record, he borrowed the introductory music from Kellz’s 23-year-old single for the beginning of his own.

“TSU,” which was produced by Harley Arsenault, Noel and Houston’s own OG Ron C, presumably explaining the chopped and screwed elements on the song, also interpolates *NSYNC’s “Sailing.”

In the midst of Drake handing a writing credit to R. Kelly in exchange for a few seconds of the Chicago crooner’s record, the singer is currently on trial in New York City for a number of sexual misconduct charges, racketeering and violations to the Mann Act, which is a federal law that criminalizes any woman or girl being transported for prostitution-related purposes.

Kelly has been accused of sexually assaulting several underage girls and as recently as July, he was also hit with accusations of sexually abusing underage boys.

R. Kelly not only has cases in New York, but he has a trial looming in his hometown as well. Kelly was arrested in 2019 and is currently housed at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn with an unknown release date. If he is found guilty, he is looking at between 10 years to life in prison.

Last month, prosecutors in R. Kelly’s New York trial shared their belief that Kelly married singer Aaliyah in 1994—when she was underage—because he found out she could’ve been pregnant and wanted to prevent the possibility of her testifying against him if anyone was to find out.

Aaliyah, someone whom Drake has spoken highly of over the years and has even gotten a tattoo of her face on his back, was married to R. Kelly for six months until her parents annulled their union. However, in order for Aaliyah, who was 15 at the time, to marry Kelly, who was 27, she was reportedly given a fake ID which fraudulently stated that her age was 18. Aaliyah’s marriage to Kelly was public knowledge throughout her career, which tragically ended in 2001 after she died in a plane crash.

Check out Drake’s “TSU” and R. Kelly’s “Half on a Baby” below to compare for yourself.