Keys Addresses Her Blender Interview

R+B star Alicia Keys has cleared up comments she made about the U.S. government being responsible for the creation of gangster rap and the deaths of Tupac Shakur and The Notorious B.I.G.

The singer lifted the lid on her political views in a new interview for music magazine Blender, but she felt as though some of her comments were misconstrued. In a radio interview today, she cleared up some of the statements she made to the magazine, feeling like she had been misinterpreted.

In the magazine interview, she claimed the rappers' slayings were fueled by "the government and the media, to stop another great black leader from existing."

But this morning, she clarified those comments, saying, "I feel information led to some negative consequences. Had more communication been done between the two men I feel that more likely than not that result would not have happened."

Keys, 27, also claimed in the Blender interview that the gangster rap movement never existed, but was created "as a ploy to encourage black people to kill each other".

This morning, she explained, "What I was saying was the term 'gangster rap' was so over-sloganized during that time... and that in so many ways everyday people as well as the government could have really done so much more to really obliterate and eradicate the things that were going on in the commuinities at that time that forced the artists to talk about so strongly what they saw, what they lived with every day.

"I wasn't saying that I was a conspiracy theorist or that I am anti-anyone. I am a very positive person and my only aim is to uplift people."


In the magazine article, Keys also revealed her interest in the Black Panther movement - and her desire to write more political songs. She told Blender that if black leaders like late Black Panther Huey Newton "had the outlets our musicians have today, it'd be global. I have to figure out a way to do it myself."

"Over all it was a great article," she said this morning, adding that she only regretted that a negative spin had been put on some of her comments.

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