As Drake faces some backlash for including an R. Kelly sample on his new Certified Lover Boy song “TSU,” his most frequent collaborator has made a statement on the matter.

On Saturday (Sept. 4), Noah “40” Shebib responded to an Instagram post that shared a news story about the sample from the disgraced R&B singer, and in the comments section, 40 explained how the sample landed on the LP.

“On a song called tsu at the beginning is a sample of OG Ron c talking,” 40 writes in the comment. “Behind that faintly which you can’t even hear is an r Kelly song playing in the background. It has no significance no lyrics are present, r Kelly’s voice isn’t even present but if we wanted to use Ron c talking we were forced to license it.”

Elsewhere in the comment, the OVO producer explains the reason he came forward to address the entire situation.

“Doesn’t sit well with me let me just say that. And I’m not here to defend drakes lyrics, but I thought I would clear up that there is no actual r Kelly present and it’s a bit misleading to call him a co lyricist. It’s kinda wild cause I was just reading “Baby Girl” by Kathy Iandoli and the recounts of some of that stuff is horrific and disgusting. Then I saw this post and just had to say something because to think we would stand beside that guy or write with him is just incredibly disgusting.”

While the inclusion of the sample has led to some controversy, it doesn’t appear that will have any bearing on the success of CLB. According to Chart Data, the LP is expected to move up to 625,000 equivalent album units in its first week on its way to the No. 1 spot on the Billboard 200 albums chart. On Friday, Spotify announced that the project broke its single-day record for album streams. See screenshots of 40’s comment for yourself below.

ovo40 / Instagram

@ovo40 / Instagram