Public Announcement on R Kelly, Aaliyah, Sparkle, Documentary (Full Interview)

all right here we go we got Dre and Rico public announcement the flat TV absolutely finally yes sir happy happy to be big big fan you know that that that first album born into the 90s was like a soundtrack before me it was just a kind of bless you guys are definitely running [ __ ] in hip-hop I'm sorry one hip hop and an R&B you know I guess that was like a New Jack Swing kind of thing that was happening back then absolutely yeah yeah well thank you that's awfully kind of you say so was public announcement already a group before you guys linked up with our Kelly yes okay so how did that group form Thank You Jay well you know we were doing talent shows around Chicago and it got to a point where you know they didn't want to let us get into talent shows anymore so at that point you know it was a place called a Cotton Club and this is where Bernie Mac was hosting I even think Godfrey was actually doing his comedy there yep at around the same time yeah and so we saw Rob there and this was right after he had one big break yeah Malik oh yeah Natalie cause big break and he was with another group called MGM and they broke up at that point and he needed a group Barry Hankerson that just started managing them and had took him to jive but they wanted him to come out with the group so he saw us we were dress ready to go you know I'm saying and he was like you guys sing and dance was like yeah so we went in the bathroom you know I'm saying and sung and danced you know all kind of crazy don't it was real crazy in the bathroom but you know so after that then he was like meet me at president so tyre was where he lived at and we're all black and at that time we were pretty young so we we just was you know really just excited about because he was like the next to blow so it was like okay yeah let's go so we went and we rehearsed to music and did routines and all of that and probably not long after that maybe a month or two we were doing sold-out shows overseas so okay and you guys had already recorded the born to the 90s album by that point no at that point the album was pretty much done so all the vocals were pretty much done we might have done a little something but for the most part we just sung in the live shows cuz he had already basically finished it he was like really jive was ready to put him out you know I'm saying okay so how involved were you guys in that first album important to the 90s hardly hardly any Harlan he was already scheduled to be a solo artist but from what I understand they didn't want to release him as a solo artist just yet because at that point you had all these groups out so whether it was black straight where there was no audition you know you had a bunch of groups and famine will come out as a solo artist I think they might have thought that might not have been a good look so they decided to say okay let's release him as a group and that's when we met and he saw that we did what we could do and he said me me and so we did okay and when you guys first started seeing art Kelly perform was it just obvious in terms of the talent level and so forth to a certain degree you know because in terms of talent I think we were pretty close to like where he was at talent wise but he was getting the big breaks I mean he you know he found himself in situations you know I mean so you know but very talented I'm not I'm not trying to take it or take that away bear it out absolutely I mean you could just tell by the body of work exactly so you guys linked up with our Kelly units now our Kelly and public announcement and you guys are starting to do all these shows and do the show start getting pretty big actually the first show we did we performed two weeks before the album was released here in the States we went to Europe so we were over there two weeks doing nothing but shows and every show over there was sold out and when I say sold out I mean like not even standing room it's nothing that I don't think we've ever experienced and it was so nice the crowd was so loud that we couldn't hear the mix and the monitors you know and I mean they had and we kept tell them turn it up turn it up so no they were screaming so loud we couldn't hear the mix in the monitors and there were people literally fainting passing out being carried across the stage that was two weeks of nothing but that almost every single night and by the time we came here the music was out it was two weeks later and I know for me personally I had no idea what it had done here if it was going well if it was going horrible but overseas it was around okay and at this point in the early stages how are you guys getting along with our Kelly like what are your relationships with him like at that stage it was great no problems whatsoever I mean we're going we're doing shows we're figuring things out it got to the point where we were own shows switching routines and anything we wanted to do on problem just you know hey turn around give me this this this is this all right got it and we could switch it up it was that we were gelling everything was fine in the early I would say what six months mmm no problems whatsoever it was fine it did start to change though okay and we'll go ahead and get to that so so you guys are on tour with our Kelly and you guys have I guess various tour buses at that point no just one tour bus one okay and I guess drea was one of the backup dancers right little further down the line further down the line yeah yeah okay well so I'm just trying to get the chronology here in place so initially she was not a backup dancer well no she came in as a background dancer but it was just a little later you know I'm saying then the very beginning she didn't start out with us put it that way she didn't kind of come along until like 12 pliable okay so did Aliyah come around first um yes yes okay okay so you guys are on tour with our Kelly and everything's blowing up you guys are doing huge shows things are crazy and so forth now you know before the before Leah came around you know obviously you got a bunch of young men who are tasting Fame for the first time mm-hmm and you got a bunch of women who are going crazy over armed be was primarily a female art form in terms of like the audience what are some of the crazier things that are happening female wise up to that point well for me I can't speak on them it got so bad I was in a drought everything was it was one of the things where everybody was around but they were like we were so busy it was hard to actually reach out to women and say hey come meet me my hotel room headed do this thing cuz everything was rush rush rush to go go go so if you really wanted that you actually had to go hey make sure you give him my number you had to pass your number to somebody else on the team to get it to it cuz out the net it was like it was like pure royalty everything was rush day and I mean literally was people putting their hands on you moving you from one place to another everywhere you went so for me I was sitting there dry going what am I gonna do now the star over here I can tell you about his business because it's right here in front of you know that dome that thing about a cinderfella it's the male version it's a male version of Cinderella you know always had to stay back and clean this and do this and that I was cinderfella this guy oh when I say star I mean Vlad imagined you know I know you heard stories of people on tour all the time so imagine you know an above-average artist that is on tour above average we were like probably ten times that so it was you know crazy everywhere we went crazy no no he was asking for specifics so you need to say some something to happen right I mean you know girls you know okay I got a good story for you do every even when we first started out and we were doing club dates and we would be like you know the bus would stay at the hotel and we've been like you know a van and after the show it looked like a funeral going back to the hotel nothing because nothing but no it did and and that's long process somehow someway somebody gave out the number or the information to where we were staying and it was it was also yeah I do remember that that was a video and let me know because I can't quite figure out that the time frame of it but it's it's our Kelly performing in a like a theater type venue and I'm not sure if it's you guys or someone else holding up a sign that says 18 and old oh no you know it's him you know it was him it was him holding this item oh yeah you know it was it was him as a matter of fact before you actually ask you a question I remember us specifically kid knows uniforms because yeah that's funny we got those uniforms minutes before we actually hit the stage they didn't have wardrobe for us guess who had those same uniforms own before us high five okay my kid we put him on he went out there and performed done wasn't high five a kid's group yes okay yes you guys put on high fives uniforms and our Kelly is performing and you're holding up a sign that says a Tina no that'll be true that would be tre yes this guy busy let me explain that because make it good he was he was putting it in our brains as if you know he was older of course and the girls had to be 18 and over so at that time it felt right to me you know I'm saying I'm like eight 18 and over that's legal everything is good you see him saying so yeah that was me holding the side as crazy as that sounds but it's true you passed for 2019 it looks pretty crazy right it looks I mean cuz yeah 18 and over is kind of assumed by by adult males but no one actually had a sign that said 18 and over that that was unique before and after right that was that was a staple saying this is what it is it was it was um pre nonsense it was letting you know that this is what it has to be and big guy had the chance to hold a sign it's a matter of fact I think we need to get another sign so you can hold I went on the show we do that I mean when you when you uh saw that interview years later with a Turay when he asked are Kelly are you still going to see teenagers define teenagers right here you are holding you're holding up a teenage side it was crazy I think I held that sign on Jay Leno's so to back they're the same Sam okay this is good so at that point were underage girls trying get backstage and we're trying to get in the mix and so forth I would say of course you know that there were young girls out there but at the end of the day I mean it was like at the shows nothing strange was happening you know I'm saying I never really seen no underage girls get backstage there were always girls let's be clear but underage girls like like what the top is now I've never seen them okay and were there any signs that our Kelly was into that at all no there were signs that he liked them young you know I'm saying they looked at ed young a lot you know what I'm saying but nothing to the point that made me rise a razor eyebrow like you know like what is he doing you know I'm saying nothing to that degree and one of the things that kind of came out later was that our Kelly couldn't read true that's true you guys you guys knew that yeah yeah cuz you know yeah II some problems he had to be taught how to write she's got that vibe you know he couldn't couldn't spell it you know so that was all real we had limitations on what we could and couldn't write when we were all sitting signing so so that was kind of his thing to write we couldn't write she's got that back cuz he learned how to write that and that was his thing to write can't really ask you that you could have held off but okay sorry no it was I don't know we're just dealing with a grown man who couldn't read write extremely it was extremely weird here's the thing when you have the camaraderie that we had which was a majority time just playful and then you know there's people that are working for him you know management assistant managers role managers you know and then when you get that it went from the four of us sitting in a room talking working out things to management saying when he's left the room or it's just the three of us or they'll come our room or whatever it is I need you to not do this not do this and not do this that's like dude didn't say that well it doesn't matter what he said I'm telling you this what needs to happen so that was the part that actually was weird you know in the beginning it was we were talking about whatever wasn't we talked it out and you know it wouldn't be a knockdown argument but it came to the point where management was telling us was they were dictating do this don't do that do this this this don't do that so that part that was aggravating because they started it went from being nice to now like a dictatorship you know this isn't this don't do it and walk away so so at what point did Aliyah start coming around well Barry Hankerson brung bring her around and you know and introduced her as she's an artist and you know and Rob was gonna produce her so at that point you know they started to work on the album so you know you would see her in the studio every now and again you know I'm saying but for the most part when it came to any females or anything like that we really could not be involved in that for real so you would see her passing by but to sit and hang out and do that know that Wow okay and when you first you know saw Leah and heard her sing and stuff like that you automatically know like okay this is gonna be a big star right here or was it still kind of you know rough back then you know in the makings it was still kind of rough to me because I looked at it almost like you know because I think I watched her do vocals one time and you know and she sang so soft so he would have her sitting and she would be so close to the to the proper stopper and she would almost be whispering so I wasn't sure if that was gonna work you know I'm saying but it worked yeah so right couldn't have known that it was gonna go over the way that it did it was impossible until you started to hear the records and you guys knew this she was 14 at the time yeah I had no idea but I remember there was a video that I saw of our Kelly in the studio I think was like MTV or something and he's kind of showing the cameraman around he goes oh this is my new artist Aaliyah she's 14 years old I'm talking about him yeah so he knew he knew her actual age at the time and so yeah absolutely okay so our Kelly is producing Aaliyah did you guys know that there was any sexual relationship and proper relationship anything going on between our Kelly and Aaliyah I didn't know and that was because I treated it like a job I came once the studio CD whatever was we supposed to being worked on the stuff that we needed to work on and then I go home so I I remember seeing her once but other than that I actually don't remember saying her so I was in and out you know and that's why I think is you know it's hard for people to understand because they thinking like well you guys are there you've never seen nothing but if you know him you're not gonna see nothing if you know who he is cuz he keeps everything under control everybody that's there I don't care what capacity you work in you're not gonna you're only gonna do what he wants you to do and you're only gonna be involved in things that you need to be involved in so there was a lot of separation you know we were always separated from everybody else because we'd be in the studio working on whatever it is that we were working on and next two studios down it could be somebody else working on an album it could be but all under his camp but it wasn't oh let me go over and say hi to change it faces oh let me go over and say hi to you no no it wasn't that we're going to do a job we're late okay now there was a third member of the group Earl Robinson now from what I understand I'm kidding now from what I understand Earl Robinson did see some stuff between art Kelly Amelia yeah he'd say he did okay that's what he said he told me that so what did Earl tell you exactly he said he saw Rob and alia on the back of the bus having sex yeah and our Kelly was what 24 at the time mm somewhere in there there maybe maybe 25 26 okay how did you react when you were told that a 26 year old was having sex with a 14 year old I told my exact words was stop it stop it you didn't see that stop it and he swore he seen it but my thing was I didn't know to believe it because at that point Earl's relationship with Rob wasn't that great so I'm looking at it like maybe you're on some craziness you know what I'm saying so I really didn't look at it no type of way at that stage okay did you hear the story also from rural no no they drain our buddies at that point and I actually started pulling myself away I was going through things with the management that I didn't agree with so I started pulling myself away I treated like a job I came did my job and I left even when we were touring I did the exact same thing I can't I did my job and I left and it was because I wasn't happy I started not being happy with the way things were being ran for us as a group and even more so for me personally so actually I wasn't privy to it so did Earl leave the group because of that Alia situation yes that's exactly why he left probably wasn't even a day or two after he told me that he was gone okay so now and you guys were together before r.kelly right right so here here's your homie who you guys came up with is leaving the group over some crazy [ __ ] right basically but you know how I had to look at it though Vlad I had to say okay what if I worked at Walmart and one of my friends that worked there - he doesn't like what's going on there he decided to leave what does that do for me and my family and me living I can't leave off that see what I'm saying especially when I know the dynamic of the relationship that you guys have I don't even know if you're telling the truth or not so I had to stay there and and Rob told me you know he asked me he said where's Earl I say he left he said why did he leave I said well he say he saw you and a little on the back of the bus and he said well what they got to do with his check and I said well I guess nothing and he said well since he left I'm gonna pay you what he got plus what I'm paying you now would you leave well first of all before I answer that question what what you're telling me right now is that our Kelly didn't even deny it I'm telling you exactly what he told me right he didn't say that's [ __ ] he's a liar he said and right like what does that have to do with you okay me personally I would not work with someone who's a child molester but that's just me right after you but you know especially if the child molester didn't even deny it now if it's if there's a little bit of fuzziness going on like this dude's probably lying then I'd have to think about it but if if my boss was a child molester I'd be out really me personally me personally but I'm not going to judge anyone in their position you know you guys are you know have to feed your own families and stuff like that it is what it is well at what point are Kelly actually got married to Aaliyah now around that time I wasn't there because of the way things were going and you know in just a certain way he was I would leave off and on throughout every I've left quite a few times went back left quite a few times went back so during the time where he actually allegedly married her I wasn't there that's when the road manager guy was around you know I'm saying and that was them you know I mean so I don't know too much about that well are Kelly's lawyer claimed that at the time of the marriage alia I had you know lied about her age and said 18 and he said that our Kelly didn't know that she wasn't 18 but like I said before there was a video where are Kelly's introducing her as a 14 year old so from your point of view there was absolutely no gray area in terms of our Kelly knowing that she was 14 15 years old absolutely okay no the whole assassination attempt thing with you Rick did that happen before after this whole alia thing I believe it was afterwards after okay yeah so this whole Lea thing is happening and then after the after the whole marriage thing came out everyone started to talk about it it was like it became just popular culture how were you guys dealing with you know people accusing our Kelly of being you know a pedophile and stuff like that you know when he got out hi again I came and went like it was a job I was unhappy I didn't do a lot of investigating or a lot of gossiping and and I thank God for that I I heard about a couple things and actually didn't hear about the marriage thing until years later when I was like gone gone but the allegations as far as being with young girls I've heard of that and I felt embarrassed because guilt by association and my worry was just that so with having the accolades of being in the group and things of that nature even when I went out and out and about and did whatever it is I was doing I was very reluctant to say you know any any of my dealings with you know people would introduce me oh this is Rick from our Kelly public announcement and I you know I started warning people in advance please don't I just I don't want the questions I don't want this that in the other so I was embarrassed okay at what point did Aliya actually separate herself was it after the whole marriage thing yeah it was after the mayor's got an old you know and then after that she was gone okay I I remember during the time the rumor that was in the streets was that the reason why he got married to her it was because he had gotten her pregnant and he was trying to avoid you know a statutory rape charge and if they were married then that wouldn't have that would have alleviated him from that situation did you know anything about that I just heard Demetrius Smith in a video lately say that so I never I never knew that I've never heard of until just now so wow the streets have a way of kind of creating stories and growing that was so fun that's why I want to ask you guys yeah as someone that was actually part of the situation you know close to situation okay so Aliya leaves but the r.kelly train is still going like are Kelly's continuing to just blow up yeah so the next the next album was twelve play yeah okay and twelve play was just are Kelly was an art Kelly in public announcement right so was there sort of like a breakup between art Kelly public announcement or did you guys were you guys still involved but just not under the the moniker oh no that was a brown a public announcement no it was a breakup I'm going to put it out there partially but it's up to him to say anything about it because it's his story but Dre and hurl produced music before us coming to our Keller and then once we were with him they still produce music when we came back home you know he'd going to sue do do what he was doing they going to studio do what they were doing and I know of one one song in particular that they did that I thought was great but I was like dude leave that for us we'll do it this way don't go over there and do that but God is a way of showing you what you can do and just simply what you should not do and on the last video shoot that we did which was the first single 12 play I'm sorry no it was sex me the song is the song with sex me that was the first song off the second album we um we decided to go do the video shoot and then leave but this time I had a little bit more knowledge about why we were leaving but for me with management and Rob I was at that point all the the bad stuff that I could go through I had gone through and I wasn't callous but I wasn't bitter I wasn't angry I could handle what they were throwing at me I was good at that point but when they said that this was what we wanted to do we're gonna do the luck we don't do this last song bun to the video and then we're gone we're done we'll do our own thing we'll produce ourselves we'll do what we need to do and I I came with them so I left with them and at that point we did the video shoot daps and hugs to everybody peace out and we never went back no phone came a phone calls nobody answer we all agreed that we would not answer any phone calls and not voice meant nothing we wouldn't do anything and that's what we did so we left that day and never went back okay because you guys were not like officially signed to like jive records right no it was more a handshake deal between you and our Kelly yeah yeah yeah yeah and it was really it was it was an agreement I said hey you come with me work this out with me help me help me promote my album and do what we're doing as a group and then I'll produce you guys and we said okay you know it was that simple it wasn't like well we need to sign something or let's do it oh we trusted him so it was like okay cool no problem you know and and the momentum of what we were doing was so it wasn't unexpected but it came a lot sooner because before we started performing with him we were already out doing shows we were already out grinding making a name for ourselves so when that turn of events happened and we were able to really start to see a difference I mean we've been performing in winning talent shows and then all we could do was be judges or special guests we had reached that plateau but now this was a different level of is it really possible can we actually go somewhere and be on television and fulfill what we were doing and that's what was what presented to us so it was like okay yeah let's go and what we got on that train and just it went full steam ahead a whole lot faster well yeah I mean I'm looking the track listing of 12 play right now and on the song bump and grind which I guess was the biggest song on the album mm-hmm you know one of them one of the lines is uh so show me some ID before I get needy here we go again with the 18 and over side once again like our Kelly wasn't even trying to hide that part it was right there like front page you know what now that you mention it I don't think I don't look at that I don't look at it that way I look at it as since the beginning he was always cutting edge he was always saying what couldn't be said what shouldn't be said he was saying it he was singing it he was putting it out there and he was doing in such a slick way that it was an edge that nobody a touch and he did so I don't look at it like he was trying to get away with it I think he was being straight and just saying it like it is after the whole thing the whole underage rumors I guess our Kelly started getting a lot of death threats and so forth right I only know about one but okay okay and there was a situation where I guess you're used as a decoy or or something that sort yeah let's go with that so what exactly happened I remember specifically it was the BT Awards I think we've only did it once right I think so alright so BT Awards well we were flown out to LA and that was in my hotel room I got a knock on the door I answered it security hey we need to go over to a dress rehearsal like alright cool I'm going to go get a couple of things I was like no no no put this on so I figured okay well it's a uniform let's go so I figured it was a dress rehearsal so I put it on and as we're walking down the hallway one of the guys said can you put the hood on oh sure now at that point I'm thinking Oh paparazzi bunch of chicks is gonna be high yeah mysterious and we went through a really beautiful atrium it was outdoors Nunchuk and shrubbery leaves everything it was beautiful and we were walking through like this maze but all of the shrubbery was like no knee-high so we were walking through it and it was just when I say beautiful it was gorgeous I've got the hood on I tilt my head down because I'm doing this star thing and we get to UM we'll get inside the building and uh we go to our green room they walk me in I'll look in it's nobody in there I'm like where's everybody I just like oh they're coming like okay so at that point I take the hood off and they come maybe ten minutes or so they come in joking and talking laughing Trey says to me what you been where you been he was like oh he was over doing this this and this no like aarika cool and we did show and we continue to tour and I want to say maybe maybe about a week or two later the head of security he pulled me to the side you know there was a bunch of hoop lot going on there people having a good time and he pulled me to the side he said look next time I tell you to come with me and wear this this is this don't do it like why did I do something wrong he was like nah he was like just so you know that um somebody sent the letter wanting to hurt dude they was talking about shooting him because of these allegations I'm like oh okay Wow after he said that of course I looked at situation differently from than home but I mean he said don't you know if we tell you to put this on refused it you know you can't get fired you'll be cool but just we just don't cuz somebody tried to you know send a letter and said that they were gonna hurt him because this that in the other nose right now okay so basically you could have gotten shot or killed or whatever else in a particular situation more our Kelly sent you out first with a hood whether it was hoping you're not hoping hoping would happen it to you instead of him like whether it was him a management only God knows but I just thank God that he's been covering me and it didn't happen but I was oblivious I had no idea and I trusted you know I trusted the system and you know I'm I can only assume that or I didn't know you know but when they came in it was like oh it was like nothing ever happened and then it wasn't until recently that actually said anything about it because they didn't even know I never said anything to anyone gotcha so at one point drea became our Kelly's backup dancer I think it was around you know that and definitely knows around a 12-play album I believe okay and he had some sort of audition which we never were at so we never saw the audition none of that I'm just basically hearing from drea saying that she had went to an audition I could I didn't know how she got there actually so and then she ended up dancing and he had like three other dancers as well and she was on she was rehearsing and you know getting ready for the tour's okay I mean but the twelve play time are you guys still in the group with our Kelly or you guys gone by this point no they were both gone I was still pretty much there like I left for a while and we got a deal with Atlantic big beat and we were working on our album and in New York we did that we were signed to like an independent that had that deal with Atlantic big beat so because of whatever was going on with the independent they shelf the project so we came back to Chicago start doing a few shows here and there you know promoting and then it kind of just dried out so at that point I'm looking at everybody I'm like hey man we need to get some money from somewhere and I was like I'm gonna call dude you know I'm saying and go and go back on tour do something so I ended up going back and when I got back she was one of the dancers and there were three other dancers okay and I guess her and the other dancers they would all sleep with our Kelly in the back of the bus together well basically I mean because it was I mean I'm sure you've seen a tour bus everybody does music scene the tour bus there's a back room and then there's a bunch of bunks so we had bunks and he stayed on the back room and all the girls stayed with him okay but at one point drea stayed in the back room and the other girls had to go in the bunks yeah it happened like later they all stayed on there for a while you know I'm saying throughout whatever particular tour that was and then one day it just changed and then the girls were in the bunks and it was just him and her on the back of the bus and basically don't nobody look at her don't don't do nothing don't talk to her nothing hmm and it was over okay and they eventually got married and had three kids right when when Draya talks about all the abuse claims and stuff like that did you see any of that talks about all the way all the abuse claims never saw abuse but you knew you know if you were there anybody that's there knows that he controls everything so if she came into the studio the studio was in the basement of his house he comes to the studio or whatever the case may be and and everybody would know she's coming she's like she's gonna walk through and we would look in the cellar everybody and nobody would speak nothing not a word wouldn't other world other we're not one word and and that would be it so that's the most you've seen any of their personal just by her just walking through you never really was around to see it you know how they communicated none of that you would see her in passing now at one point sparkle came around mm-hmm well she didn't just come around and that's the problem I got with wit Sparkle you know I'm saying particularly okay because me and Earl worked on her demo got it it was hot and earl says to me he says hey take this to Cales i'm like not a good idea I said it's not a good idea and he was like yes it is you know I married to it's good so I said okay so I took the demo down there he listened to it he said oh man it's hard yeah but I'm gonna have to do this myself he said and I was like what you mean he's like I'm gonna have to produce this all myself and write it he said y'all did some good work like I'm gonna do this on my own so he say you know I'll do this but you know it's gonna have to be no Earl no-nothing she's gonna have to come down here if she want I'm done she's gonna have to sleep on this studio couch for 30 days and that's the only way I'm doing it so I go back and I tell her and he doesn't believe me he like no no it's gonna be good I say her she's never coming back he said yes he is it's good so Rob I'm at the studio one day Rob say call up Steph and see can she come down and do some vocals and this was around the time she was doing vocals on a Leah's album see what I'm saying so it wasn't even about her album she was just coming to do background vocals so she came and did that and shortly after that it was there was no more her and her it was around so you guys are you guys are in a group with Earl Earl's wife goes and starts working with our Kelly and never goes back to Earl again right now let me ask you this man I mean you think about it just like you just told me you said Earl told you that he saw Ali on the back of the bus right but yet he sent his wife down there too oh that came afterwards yeah oh so how was I supposed to look at it now look at it like that because you know this guy but she's still gonna send your wife down you don't sound right it sounds a little strange Earl saw our Kelly having sex with Aaliyah he quits the group and then sends his wife to go work with our Kelly afterwards okay I can see whether were the the doubt and so forth exactly exactly and I just want to state for the record my bunk was the middle bunk and I kept that the entire time I was there that's it good well Dre you said if you know r.kelly if he's producing any female nine times out of ten he's having sex with him yeah he told no oh I can't hold you that mm-hmm okay so there are Kelly tell you did art Kelly tell you that he was having sex with sparkle no but I mean no he'd never said that I'll say that okay but Earl felt that he was having sex with Sparkle right okay now sparkle has a nice mm-hmm and although it wasn't proven in court she claims that her niece was the girl in the are Kelly sex tape right did you know are Kelly's neat I'm sorry did you know sparkles nice at all I've seen around okay when you see around around Sparkle or around our Kelly or both I mean kind of Tanna around like like we'll put this way Denise used to be with his kids in the house wit with drill and this is when she couldn't have been she was really really young at that you know saying at this point so you're not putting it together cuz she's running with the kids and playing and this that another and that's kind of you know it wasn't it wasn't anything to look at strange it was just like okay y'all got parents to sparkle nice great but then the sex tape comes out at the time and this was like what mm maybe huh 2001 I'm not sure I'm not sure I'm not good with the date so that's what okay the sex tape comes out I mean first you were hearing rumblings like oh there's our Kelly with an underage girl whatever whatever des you know I was living in Oakland I go the swap meet and here they all are for sale right there on the ground run for anyone to purchase and you know we all saw the tape because you wanted to see if it was our Kelly first first and foremost because they okay well maybe it's just a guy that looks like our Kelly but you watch the tape and like oh [ __ ] that's that's definitely our Kelly right did you guys see the tape I know son I saw clips Oh awesome clips okay I was trying to buy it with nobody like me so when you saw the clips and you've seen sparkles nice is that the same person it looks like it I would it looks like that but if they say it in court then it ain't her I mean Who am I to sit here and say that it's her it looked like it and at that point I was nowhere around so I couldn't say you either or I've never seen I've never seen the girl and I've never seen the tape so I couldn't say you know it was one way or the other I wasn't around at that point okay but but you but but Trey you were around mm-hm and you seen the girl and you seen the tape and now this is all out there how did you feel when you saw that I felt crazy because it's almost like unbelievable and at that point I mean you accent yourself and you know and I'm gonna really be honest even the people around I don't want to call it an unspoken thing but I don't think nobody bought into it for some reason and I don't know was that based off his manipulation and how he did stuff cuz he act like nothing was happening so at the end of the day you like okay well did something happen I mean it looked like him and it looks like her but he's steadily saying no it's not me so it's like you know it becomes weird man I mean I guess that's the best way I can say it weird well let me say this I remember seeing an interview with the journalist that that actually got the tape in the mail originally and he had been following our Kelly like this whole career our Kelly even mentioned him in that in that song that took that 20 minute song yeah I admit and he said that that that area in the house with the wood panels where the tape was was shot he said that that was definitely our Kelly's house because when our Kelly moved out the cameras were still there he had installed the cameras in the room had you ever been to that part of the house and seen that room mmm but that was like a long time ago I think I have seen that room I think so the tape comes out and everything goes crazy are you still [ __ ] with our Kelly at this point no because right when the tape came out and we were on a tour bus I forget where we were going and he said to me he said look I think you should go home because I don't want to put you in a position to lie or tell the truth so I left and at that point I don't think I've seen him maybe once or twice in between that time but not really seeing him seeing him till after he was acquitted I think it was probably like the same day or a night I came in you know and I forgot somebody was driving me or something and and kales was in the Phantom and we were like downtown and I jumped out of that car jumped into the Phantom and but but like I said before man I was really a bunch in and now now people can do they research I'm in our wish video I wish remixed to the homies that we lost I was the one that got shot I was in Fiesta I was in contagious with Ronda lies Lee so it was times I was there and then it was times I wasn't there right because I think you had mentioned when they were doing the Fiesta remix uh our Kelly wasn't there with jay-z at the same time no mm-hmm no well because I guess at that time Dame Dash was dating Aaliyah and that kind of caused all types of weird no I mean Jay Jay Jay would just basically travel alone every time that I seen him he met us at some some place where where Rob used to play basketball at in New York that's by this lake and it looked like a bubble and jay-z just one day walked in and that's the same way he walked into you know came to the studio by yourself now Dre you said that you've seen Lisa Van Alen around a lot he okay and you said that she was doing crazy stuff yeah I think this was when she was grown because around the home a long time if you research this I wasn't in that video so this is the time she said she met him so I think maybe I don't know how long it was after that but then yeah then I came back around and then I seen her around and you know she was doing I mean I mean to the point where where I mean dude it's too late dude is very like you know he won't in his way so I I just tell you one thing we're sitting in the studio you know and he got the console thing in the middle the couch was on the back big board in front and all of a sudden she would just walk in with like just some panties all and standing in front of the board and just ended okay so that's the lite version of it you may have a top of whatever home but just standing it like you know whatever and but for all of us in there to pretty much view it was that type of thing okay but you know for some people they need candles and stuff like that to set of mode so this is just common practice and standard come on you know it became normal that that's kind of normal for the lifestyle you know that I was it was normal so Rick you guys separated yourself from our Kelly a while ago you know for a long time yeah but Dre you were still kind of in the mix and so yeah back and forth you know our Kelly was found not guilty and during this whole trial time he's dropping probably his biggest records you know Chocolate Factory is out and you know step in the name of love the ignition ignition remix he's in full swing do you reunite with our Kelly afterwards or was that pretty much it after the whole trial I end up reuniting for a quick second and because I can't remember the times exactly I don't know if it was a tour coming up cuz I know he would always want me to go on the tours so I was always doing the tours and in the videos at that time but I just can't remember what happened around that time and just as an FYI there were a couple times that I actually did go back and work with the Muslim tours you know it wasn't a lot but I want to say maybe maybe twice at the most that I did but other than that no there was nothing as a group all four of us on stage at that point um when we left this public announcement that was the end of us the four of us being on stage together but I did come in and out and Dre did a whole lot more coming in and out so so then fast forward to I guess 2018 they start filming surviving our Kelly now Rick you actually were interviewed for that documentary I believe so I believe that's what it was the best way I can put it and I'm so thankful to God for her mom holding me the way that he does when I was contacted about it I thought to ask what is the name of it what it being what is it being called but I didn't ask so they said it was a documentary about r.kelly life in times were you there what happened so after speaking with them for a while and I'm assuming they were verifying that I was Who I am and I went into an interview and I want to say it was about an hour and a half and the one thing I told them that I would not do it slander him I can break his neck over what he did to me I can break his neck over what his management did and how that one I can I can I can go in on him about that all day but everything else the allegations and the speculation my Bible teaches me that you know when somebody does this you turn the other cheek when somebody does this you still look you still do what you're supposed to do but I don't have any of that I don't have any I told them that I would not slander him I told them that I had no information in the acid Nifty want I'm not willing to do it and they said no no that's fine just we're gonna ask you some questions and speak your truth and that's what happened so the reason why I believe it's not it didn't get used now I look back at it from watching it and I had nothing to contribute to that in that light so if it was if that's what they used it for if that's what I was there for none of my footage is used because there was nothing to contribute towards that okay and raid they never reach out to you for the documentary no no I didn't I didn't give him his number I can give him his name I didn't at that point actually when that was happening I like I said I didn't realize what it was and they never asked me hey do you communicate with the other members can I get their number they never said that to him so then fast forward to 2019 and surviving our Kelly comes out did you guys watch the entire series yeah I did okay absolutely from your point of view as group mates with our Kelly spending a lot of personal time with him everything that you've personally seen do you feel that surviving our Kelly was accurate or very one-sided I would say that it was pretty pretty accurate pretty accurate and I must say that in terms of most of the women that that spoke those survivors they you know I believe they were telling the truth and you know I mean you got some stories that's kind of like you know little shady like drear stories I love shady at places sparkles little shady in places but as for the girls that were actually young their stories are valid I believe this just my belief so into so from your point of view what you saw in surviving our Kelly was accurate yeah yeah for the most part for the most when you when you saw it all laid out like that how did you guys both feel I mean in terms of like just to see to hear the stories I mean I'm gonna be really honest the girls that were older I didn't quite understand that that part I'm like you know I mean you win you're good right mind you're good sense so I didn't get that but the ones that were young I totally understood that and with that being the case I really feel like you know at this point seeing that I really believe Rob needs to get some help you need some help at this point right because you said that uh our Kelly is very he's also very ill yeah very when you see all these girls say that are Kelly essentially had a cult and you know they had to ask to use the bathroom and has to eat and stuff like that from your point of view do you think that this is accurate knowing Garr Kelly we'll put it this way he wasn't holding nobody hostage let's be clear on that I can't see that but in terms of him manipulating them because I believe you know they were so young that they they just did what he said I mean now all of this stuff about this urine and all of that this Devils the first for me you know I'm said I've never heard anything like that but in terms of him always having a lot of girls around all the time and they all got along so it wasn't a strange thing he's a freaking R&B icon yeah let me um let me chime in on we'll make it quick no so what do I think I think that the controversy that has been surrounding him my heart goes out to the people that feel the way that they do that have gone through or going through what they're going through and whether they're politicians or however the America is looking at it I feel for them but have you ever um seen somebody go through something that was a celebrity and it was like say somebody passes and it's too soon to crack a joke because they just passed this is one of those situations where the crack joke about is too soon as well what I don't hear anybody doing is praying I don't hear anybody who actually really cares about it so what do I feel regardless of what I feel what I believe should be happening that isn't happening is that we're not trying to connect we're not trying to help those people help him and you know we all have clicks we all have support staffs and you know people grieve in different ways and I'm interested in being even though they consider us the closest to him for somebody to say that help everybody for somebody to say I'm sorry it happened I'm sorry you feel that way I'm sorry that it is the way that it is I'm sorry that society is looking at you in a negative light I'm sorry the society is treating you ill or different because you spoke up I'm sorry that if it actually is true that this happened but nobody's praying nobody's talking about God nobody's bringing him into the situation because that's the reason why we're off so bad because we've lost religion we've lost our minds and everybody wants to be like somebody else joy said he's an icon he really is he's changed the game tremendously and I owe him certain things because without him I wouldn't have learned a lot of things that I learned when it came to being in the studio when it came how to formulate a song when it came to what he does and how he does it and how great he is at it but that doesn't excuse if any of those things are actually true it doesn't excuse that I'm not gonna say he's a great guy in every sense of the word we all have a dark side however I'm not ashamed I'm not ashamed to give God the glory I'm not ashamed to say I stand up for what we're supposed to be doing you know because everybody's holding him accountable whether it's true or not to hold him accountable but who's saying okay I hold you accountable for it but let me offer prayers let me offer solace let me offer this nobody's doing that to any of those people so regardless of what side you're on nobody's doing it and that's my problem with all of it so I blame everybody for not looking to God I blame everybody for not even trying cuz nobody's trying right now you know somebody shouldn't have to pass notif us to say we should have taken a closer look and I don't want to touch on what you just said nobody do you make it quick yeah nobody's doing that or whatever but the problem the reason why nobody's doing that is because it looks as though these women are trying to capitalize off of it that's why they're not offering their prayers that's why nobody's trying to console them and really look at it like wow these girls have been hurt that's why it's not happening that now whether that's true or not I don't know I hope you got some an argument cause it's about to happen but the way that it looks to me Vlad is how you know how do you offer them consultation or anything when it looks like I'm not for sure but it looks like they could be capitalizing off the fact of actually up there telling their story now that might not be true so don't quote me on one about getting mad at me but I'm just saying we already know that this is why the majority of the world isn't taking it totally serious now they're picking apart everybody's stories saying oh she's lying she's lying she's lying but that's what the problem is because it's being picked apart because we're still pointing the finger that's what the problem is so while you may make that point that's the reason why we're being selfish that doesn't mean they don't deserve it that doesn't mean they don't deserve to be prey for a desert deserve to be helped hmm I'm trying to get past the pointing fingers and just say okay where do we go from here cuz how long can we talk about this because from what I understand his sales went up because of the controversy real quick Dre I forgot to talk about this during that the one section were you on tour with our Kelly during the the best of both worlds jay-z no no no that was me not him oh you were on tour for both of us right I was there okay hello let me get my hand up don't be good what happened the night when the whole tour fell apart ooh can we get a zoom man just on me I don't want him in this because I don't want to have him have allegations toward that happened in New York Madison Square Garden I'm almost positive that's where it was and I was in migraine room and we were waiting to go on now mind you I want to say other dates before that it was the same thing every night there'd be like maybe a 10-minute video and you know jay-z was always backstage on point standing there while the video was rolling I come up he actually set a load of me he'd shake my hand and say how you doing I'm okay how are you then videoed start and then at some point they come out on stage together and I was a hype man for the show on Rob's behalf we got to New York and again I come to work I do my job I leave I didn't realize the controversy and the turmoil that was happening behind the scenes so this night in particular I'm in my dressing room and I'm waiting for the show to start I'm gonna come out go up on stage backstage shake his hand say hello done deal I heard that Rob was so late and it's like the times got worse you know if it was five minutes late then one from five minutes to 20 minutes and then to half hour and then to an hour whereas jay-z was sitting there ready waiting and you know rightfully so yeah you should be pissed that you know your counterpart that you built this thing with he's not there well that night um somebody had enough of the lateness of the all the rest of the stuff that was happening and it was the show it already started they did some things and there's an exit where you go offstage go change clothes and come back on well at that point I wasn't needed for another 30 minutes so I went back to my dressing room and there were um well-known New York artists in the dressing room where I was just chillin so I'm sitting in a room chillin waiting for my time to come back on I'm looking at my watch and you know somebody's income acute me hey Rick go back out and all of a sudden you hear screaming and it was brought to my attention that Rob had been injured so they rushed him out then they rush me out so the tour bus and we had it out no he's in his dresser he's in the back room I'm in front of the two of us and we're just going we're racing down highway trying to get away only to find out that he had been pepper sprayed or something like that so that he couldn't go back onstage to finish doing whatever he was doing okay well I had heard well I mean based on these articles was that the reason why are Kelly left the stage was he claimed there was people in the audience with guns pointing at him or something like that I don't know anything about that I didn't see I didn't see any of that and honestly New York is pretty strict about firearms and things like that and their policies on getting in with them it's pretty nice so that part I don't believe I will honestly say I do not believe that there were people that were guns pointing or waving them or anything like that because even backstage you had to go through security and I mean like metal detectors and all the rest of that so no I don't I can't say that that's true okay and you don't know anything about art Kelly actually saying that no I've never heard him say okay well and I guess a tight eye who's you know jay-z's right-hand man was one that pepper sprayed uh are Kelly so I hurt right I didn't see you I didn't see it I was in my room so at that point okay well and then at that point the whole the whole tour ended yeah and it was a hole and I guess it was a huge tour with all these cities and it was already booked and everything else it does it was like a real major catastrophe yes it was a it was that tour would have been the pinnacle in my opinion of hip-hop and R&B finally getting together and making some real noise because respectively they both do very well on their own but you know the name of it best of both worlds they did something incredible that a lot of people had tried on a single they did it for a full album and it was dope so all the cities that they were talking about doing it was actually allowing me to connect with our friends as a matter of fact the it was allowing me to connect with reconnect with a friend of mine that was the ad for videos that we had done with classic concepts from back in the day and that's how nice it was I mean it came full circle a lot of the people that we had dealt with in production it was as far as the production team is concerned it was all those heavy hitters that knew what they were doing they knew exactly where to go angles everything else from production on stage video all those guys that came in and they all pitched in and it was going to be a magnificent thing to see ultimately and then and then I think our Kelly tried to do a best of both worlds with Birdman which never got released never heard no offense in a manner of speaking would rob our Kelly is to arm be as what you can consider jay-z to hip hop so when they actually teamed up it was it was fire I mean like I said nobody had ever done a complete album and if they have it didn't have any real success from both sides of the cultures saying yeah let's do it it didn't you know a single here and there yeah it was hot but not now well drain Rick man I appreciate you guys coming down and telling your story it's a very it's a very important story and you guys had a you know a part in a in a monumental mark on music you know something that you know you listened to that first album like it's it sounds brand-new still it doesn't sound like it like a dated album you know maybe a few the New Jack Swing songs you know what I was listening to it before you know but but the actual ballads the love songs really stand the test of time yeah thank you very much you know and you know appreciate you you know the truthfulness and you know not just throwing our Kelly under the bus and actually breaking down what you did see what you didn't see and I think that's the important part thank you for killing can I say something about that um you know how people don't get they're just dudes until they die and then they go oh such a great that's oh such a blah blah someone mentioned that that we had um put something out there a long time ago and I and I want to I want to set the record straight Dre called earlier myself after we had disbanded and you know disbanding for us means okay I'm not talking to you right now I'll call you every two years or something like that see how you doing but that's it Dre called us with an idea and he said I'm doing a TV series and I want to use us as the pilot I'm shooting it I'm directing it on this that another I said okay cool we get together joy flies in from Atlanta to Chicago we get together at that point I found places to shoot I supplied them with sounds spotted with lighting and literally we shoot the pilot there's young lady named Nika and I want to give a special shout out to her because she saw it and spoken it on her show and she mentioned that we're not on a bandwagon they didn't just do this because of the surviving r.kelly I look back at paperwork and I have a receipt for 2015 is when we did this and it was because of his vision and he wanted to do his pilot for his TV series that he wanted to do on other artists and that's what we were doing it for it wasn't to bash him or hurt anybody's feelings but it was our version of what happened to us because he felt that somebody might want to hear and that's how all this came to be man and and because people have been so supportive now yes we want to do music again like we intended on doing before and now this is just allowing us to do it without the the nonsense of you got to get in this person's pocket you got at home make this person feel good it alleviates all that so thank you for allowing us to use this plan for him because that's what it all was based off of so thank you no doubt my pleasure my pleasure well once again thank you so much you know for sharing your story and things can inspire a lot of people out there no doubt no doubt so next time god bless you thank you ma'am

Channel: djvlad

Views: 412,674

Rating: 4.5892973 out of 5

Keywords: VladTV, DJ Vlad, Interview, Hip-Hop, Rap, News, Gossip, Rumors, Drama, Public Announcement

Id: 2IblYxjBiLg

Length: 75min 43sec (4543 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 10 2019