News Every Day | 04 May 2024, 19:40

Hip Hop Mogul Says R. Kelly Doesn’t Deserve To Stay In Prison For Sexually Assaulting Minors

The well-known Source magazine founder and rapper Benzino, who also appeared on VH1’s Love and Hip Hop, believes R. Kelly has been mistreated after being sentenced to 30 years in prison in 2022 for sex trafficking minors.

On Wednesday, the media mogul spoke about redemption in relation to black male artists who have sexual relations with girls under the age of consent during an appearance on the We In Miami podcast.

Benzino says R. Kelly deserves a second chance: “The legal age is 16 but he’s doing all this time because they’re two years younger” pic.twitter.com/dPGIlNGJHg

— SAY CHEESE! (@SaycheeseDGTL) May 1, 2024

HipHopDx reports,

“Everybody deserves a second chance,” he said when asked about the Chicago native. “The legal age is 16 years old, so does that make it right if a n-gga does it, yes or no?”

When the women around the table all collectively agreed that it’s still wrong, he continued: “Alright, but it’s legal in America, so why the fuck is R. Kelly doing all this time? Because you know why? Because they’re 14 and 13 — two years younger — but you don’t think that the people who cleared it for 16 years old didn’t know that they’re fucking with 13s and 14s, too.

“Like even to make [an] age that young to be the law, you already know they’re going under that. I’m not condoning n-ggas fucking with little girls — it’s sick, alright, it’s sick, it’s sick — but I don’t think R. Kelly should rot in jail for 30 years either.”

WHAT THE NECK?! | Benzino says says he believes R. Kelly deserves a second chance:

“Everybody deserves second chances.” pic.twitter.com/PNiUPcKY44

— KenBarbie (@itsKenBarbie) May 1, 2024

Side Note: For many years, I have talked about how hip-hop and gang culture prey on teenage boys and girls. This industry sees a broken human and exploits that wound by dangling a carrot of “getting out of the hood” when it’s really a door to glorified sex work and pornography.

The 58-year-old added: “What about R. Kelly getting molested when he was a kid? They didn’t take [that into] consideration […] They exploited him and made all these documentaries that all these people made money off of.

“Them parents of them girls knew what they were dealing with, with R. Kelly — a lot of people knew that shit, y’know what I’m saying? — but R. Kelly wasn’t educated, man. Like when does that come in play?

See what I mean?

Additionally, Boosie Badazz, another well-known, established black male rapper, was upset over Kelly’s three-decade sentence. Though he conceded the R&B veteran did wrong and deserves time in jail, the Baton Rouge rapper also argued his crimes did not warrant such a lengthy sentence.

Boosie Badazz is most known for his affiliation with Lil Wayne’s record label, Cash Money Records, which is owned and operated by Birdman.

“People getting 15/20 years for murder n he get 30!!” he tweeted. “Yes he was wrong af for manipulating young girls n sexing them but he didn’t kill anyone,aggravated rape anyone .N no blame on the parents who knew everything. Resentence this man!! College professors get probation for this shit.

“Get this man some help n some jail time but don’t give him a death sentence ,30 years !!Maybe he can one get out one day n warn these young girls about older predators n make a difference ?but 30 years like Come on world!!”

He even pointed the finger at the parents of Kelly’s victims, posting a screenshot of a court document that alleged one of the underage girls’ mother “engineered [her] relationship” with the singer and “actively misled [him] about her age.”

It’s rather interesting right before an election, two extremely prominent hip-hop figures have come out in support of sexual misconduct with minors.

Could someone have paid the owner of Source Magazine to randomly come out and say he thinks sex with minors is not that bad? His daughter has now disowned him over his statements.

I am asking these questions because with all the Diddy news coming out, you would think black men in the hip-hop industry would be walking a fine line and not want to appear to sympathize with sex trafficking.