Both on Jive Records at the time, R.Kelly former Labelmate Joe claims foul play by Kelly
Radio Facts: Originally posted August 7, 2008 – R&B singer Joe has accused R. Kelly of trying to derail his career by pressuring radio DJs not to play his records (is “pressuring” equal to paying?). The singer released six albums with Jive Records over an 11 year period, but left the label earlier this year after the company pushed back the release of his 2007 LP, Ain’t Nothin Like Me, several times (you stay with a label for that long when you feel slighted?).
The Grammy winner believes fellow Jive artist R. Kelly was to blame, claiming the singer would call Jive bosses and radio stations and urge them not to promote the singer too heavily, according to reports (I can believe that). “R. Kelly was very instrumental in making a lot of decisions when it came to my records being played on the radio,” Joe said. “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 (maybe the label but not the station but I guess if the label pulled back the station would follow).
It’s incredible that now I get the opportunity to, I don’t know, maybe pay (R. Kelly) back in some sort of sidebar kind of thing.” (how’s that? Does Joe think THIS can hurt R Kelly after the trial just ended?) And Joe, who left Jive to release his forthcoming LP New Man through Kedar Entertainment Group, insists that despite R. Kelly’s alleged intervention, he’s still got plenty of stake in the industry. 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.”
