R Kelly denies duet with Tuface Idibia

Since he released his latest album, UNSTOPPABLE, popular singer, 2face idibia has found himself faced with one controversy or the other. The latest centers around the duet he claimed to have done with American RnB star, R. Kelly. The song in question is titled ‘FLEX’. According to him, in a recent interview, the deal was brokered by Toyin Subair, boss of HiTV cable network and he (2face), actually met R. Kelly in the US before recording the song. One of the reasons people seemed to be debating the authenticity of his claim of a collabo with R.Kelly is because the beat of the said song has been used by R.Kelly before in one of his songs.

While the entire nation seemed to have forgotten the issue, the whole collabo brouhaha came up again when R.Kelly visited Nigeria a few weeks ago. Expectedly, many people were expecting to see Tuface perform with R. Kelly but that didn’t happen. Rumours started flying that Tuface may have lied to Nigerians about having done a duet with R.Kelly.

Surprisingly, 2face, who’d featured in past music festival organized by ThisDay didn’t make the list of the performing artists billed for R.Kelly’s show. An insider disclosed that when R.Kelly was asked if he knows Tuface, he denied him, saying he had never heard the name before. He was said to have listened to the song they were meant to have done together and he laughed over it, insisting that he made the beat a long time ago, and that it must have been tapped on the internet.

This City People learnt got the organizers upset and it is for this reason, sources revealed that 2face may have been dropped from the show.

Last week Thursday, City People put a call across to 2face to comment on the allegation but his line was not available, so they called up his manager, Efe Omoreige who spoke exclusively on the issue “Well, I have not heard anything from the organizers of the show that R.Kelly disclaimed Tuface, so I might not be able to respond to it. About the allegations that Tuface didn’t record with R.Kelly, I will explain to you. Yes the duet was real. Tuface recorded with R.Kelly but not in the same studio. The met but couldn’t achieve being in the studio at the same time because of their tight schedule. R.Kelly did his own part and sent it to Tuface and that is all about it. Tuface didn’t perform at the show because he was already engaged elsewhere. We were contacted for the show, but we were already booked to be in Benin. You don’t expect Tuface to neglect a show he has been paid for to convince people that he knows R.Kelly”

Hmmmm, interesting!

Let me tell you what I think. If these guys actually spoke with R. Kelly and he said the things they claim he said, then I don't think R Kelly would lie about not knowing Tuface. He has no reason to. But I also do not think that Tuface Idibia would stoop so low to do what he's being accused of. He's far bigger than that. So there must be something else going on here that we don't know about. There's definitely another hook to this story.

What do you guys think?

By Afolabi Adekoya (City People)