O.T. Genasis sparked some mild drama this month when he dropped "Never Knew"—a Crip remix of Keyshia Cole's 2006 hit, "Love."
Though the song and its accompanying video were met with mixed reactions, most people seemed amused by the ridiculous reworking. But it's clear there was at one person who wasn't laughing: Keyshia.
The Grammy-nominated singer addressed O.T.'s cover during a recent episode of her talk show, One on One with Keyshia Cole.
"My only concern—this is a genuine concern is that, you know, I am trying to get my music where it used to be. I'm trying to find that passion for the music that I used to have so long ago when I was trying to get out of Oakland," she said. "So I would like my classics to be left alone. Is that wrong as an artist to say?"
Cole said she appreciated all the love she's received from her fellow artists—like Cardi B, Bruno Mars, and Trey Songz—who have covered her music throughout the years. However, she noted that these acts were considerate enough to perform her original lyrics, unlike O.T.
"How I’m going to get paid, you know what I'm sayin', if you making new lyrics and you ain't sent me out a check or anything like that?" she continued. "And then people hitting me up saying, 'I would never listen to Keyshia Cole’s song the same.'"
Cole also said she was hurt that O.T. didn't reach out to her before dropping the track and its video.
"There was no, 'Hey how you doing? What's up? How you feel about this?'" she explained. "Because that’s what artists do, as artists. If I want to remix a Prince song, I'ma go to Prince and figure out if I can use that. Or if I wanted to use, how I did 'Let It Go.'"
You can watch the discussion above.
O.T.'s "Never Knew" video is no longer available on YouTube. The rapper expressed his frustration via Instagram, claiming "somebody hated on my shit smh!"
He also caught wind of Cole's comments about the remix, and insisted he was just trying to have fun.
O.T. then pointed out that after releasing "Never Knew," the streams for Cole's "Love" song experienced an uptick.
