Joe: "R. Kelly Tried To Sabotage My Career"

Published: Thursday 7th Aug 2008 by Sam
Joe: 'R. Kelly Tried To Sabotage My Career'R&B crooner Joe, seemingly, out of nowhere has taken aim at R. Kelly, blaming the singer for trying to ruin his career. Check out the report via Contact Music below:

R&B singer JOE has accused R. KELLY of pressuring radio DJs not to play his records – in a bid to scupper his growing stardom.

The Stutter singer released six albums with Jive Records over an 11 year period, but left the label earlier this year (08) after the company pushed back the release of his 2007 LP, Ain’t Nothin Like Me, several times.

And the Grammy-winning star believes his rival labelmate Kelly was to blame, insisting he would call Jive bosses and radio stations and urge them not to promote the singer too strongly.

Joe says, “R. Kelly was very instrumental in making a lot of decisions when it came to my records being played on the radio.

“He would make a call to the radio station or to the label and say, ‘Hey, this Joe record is too hot right now. Y’all (sic) need to pull that back.’ And they would oblige. It’s incredible that now I get the opportunity to, I don’t know, maybe pay (R. Kelly) back in some sort of side bar kind of thing.”

And Joe, who left Jive to release his forthcoming LP New Man through Kedar Entertainment Group, insists he is still a prevalent musician despite R. Kelly’s alleged intervention.

He says, “I’m still very relevant in the game. But yeah, he did try to make some decisions when it came down to my records being on fire, and climbing up the charts and on the radio stations. He felt like they should pull back because he felt he was more important. And with their loyalty to him, they obliged.”

Though I do support Joe, it does kinda seem like he’s a little bitter about being…well…not all that relevant in the contemporary music scene and is taking aim at R. Kelly because of it. I mean, I find it a little odd that he’s only coming out of the woodwork now. Anyway…

Your thoughts?

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  1. Anonymous August 7, 2008

    Maybe he’s only saying something now that he’s left the label. You don’t know if he had a contractual obligations that prevented him before. I kind of believe him- when Joe first came out I thought he sounded like R. Kelly, and I can see how that would not appeal to R. Kelly himself, and that he may have tried to hinder Joe’s career as a result of it.

  2. Anonymous August 7, 2008

    Team Joe.

  3. tia August 7, 2008

    if r.kelly did that is a bit grimey,but at the same time i dont remember the last time i have liked any of joe songs,seriously….soooo he cant put all the blame on r.kelly,and if thats the case as a man wouldnt joe have done something about this a long time ago,i dont give a damn about that music industry mumbo jumbo,if a n**** is putting my s*** on the back burner then he is gonna pay,and if he hadda put r.kelly on blast a long time ago the he probably wouldnt have had so many fans and so much success….

    anyway good luck to joe i really do like him

  4. Anonymous August 7, 2008

    I like Joe and I wish him much more success..

  5. Anonymous August 7, 2008

    I love Joe’s soulful music, he still is very relevant.

  6. JNez August 7, 2008

    wait…R. Kelly gave Joe two throwaway songs from Kelly’s scrapped Loveland cd. The songs appeared on Joe’s 2003 cd “…and then.” interesting story though. I tend to believe it. Superstars can be surprisingly insecure. Too bad for Joe; i’ve always been fond of him. looking forward to the new cd for sure.

  7. Anonymous August 7, 2008

    Uhm, I don’t know if I believe this or not. I know that the music business can be very shady but they are/were both very established artists. I don’t see why R. Kelly would feel threatened. Joe is hella s*** though… With those lips,teeth and dark skin.

  8. Anonymous August 7, 2008

    I love Joe…he is only one the best male R&B voices around. Idk on the story, but artists are now coming out saying what kind of a person R. Kelly really is behind close doors…which is Drama Queen!

    Lol you don't hear no artists doing tracks with him right now because R. Kelly is too arrogant…his new album is going WOOD lol!

  9. Phil August 7, 2008

    Screw R kelly.. this crap happens all the time in this industry. Like this new artist Shire.. She used to be in the group Lovher and labels just pretty much stopped their growth when they were so talented. Now Shire is solo.. Hopefully Joe being with a new label will make him reach his full potential

  10. Anonymous August 7, 2008

    Not relevant? Joe is relevant. I bet he has a bigger fan base than your girl Kelly Rowland. I mean she had to go over seas to gain some “real” progress as a solo artist (I like Kelly, not hating just stating the truth). I don’t blame Joe for knockin R Kelly. R Kelly is at weak point right now, he has to try and win back some of the fans and support he lost along the way due to his foolishness.

  11. magnificentmeka August 7, 2008

    I always found Joe boring, he never really gave me music that I liked. Who knows what R. Kelly did or said to him but its whatever. Joe just is boring.

  12. Wendell August 7, 2008

    Sam,

    You’ve got to be more responsible when it comes to things like this. Do your research man!

    Think about the situation with Ne Yo and Jay Z and R Kelly.

    Now think about what Joe has said about Kelly and ask yourself if this isn’t clearly TRUE!

    Joe is a better musician and singer than R.Kelly and he has had hits in the past that seemed to disappear or fade slowly. He has a very radio friendly voice in that, it has character but not too much character to where people can’t sing along with him.

    He can sing really fast or slow! No doubt a true talent!

    I agree with the comment about Kelly. Sam you seem to be the only one checking or her, and she doesn’t even really have a solo fan base.

  13. Anonymous August 8, 2008

    I believe Joe 100%. R. Kelly is a piece of shiii.. p******** n self-inflated ego. Even Kelly’s own brotha (Casey) says dat kelly gat a problem wit underage girls n have a control issue.

    musiq aside, r.kelly gat to be in jail… he’s a mothefuckin liar n p********.. F*** Kelly

  14. Anonymous August 8, 2008

    ^^^Bith shut the f*** up. Obviously KELLY ROWLAND is doing something right if you have to bring her up in someone else’s post. Get off her f****** jock. Kelly is talented, rich, beautiful, and has LOTS of haters. Leave the girl alone. Damn!!!

  15. ND August 8, 2008

    The more haterz the better cos at least someone is talking……

    I wish some of my favourite artists had more haterz, then i’d hear more of them… lol

  16. Anonymous August 9, 2008

    to da retarded midget above.. go back to skool mothafucka.. aint nobody mentioned kelly rowland.. pass ur 1st grade b4 tryna read !!
    we down here in Compton dont play n***a..

  17. anon October 17, 2010

    R. Kelly has written a TON of Joe’s records over the decade…most of which came from R. Kelly’s stolen CLASSIC MASTERPIECE of an album Loveland. Kelz had just been plucking hot songs from that album and letting Joe have them for his actual albums. Far as I’m concerned, Kelz is the REASON Joe was even halfway relevant all these years…

    If yall have not heard the FULL COMPLETE Loveland album, I highly recommend you find it. It is better than TP2, Chocolate Factory, and 12 Play combined…just a flawless album.

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