Drake's newest album Certified Lover Boy hit the shelves on September 3 and made both good and bad headlines. One song that received some backlash was 'TSU,' which credited R. Kelly on the track.

When the song was released, fans were outraged that Drake had credited R. Kelly, a musician accused of sexual abuse who's currently on trial for racketeering and sex trafficking charges.

The song features a sample of the singer's 1998 single "Half on a Baby." It's unclear if Kelly owns the music, or has any ownership rights to it; he's still legally considered a songwriter, so he may be owed royalties for using his work.

It's difficult to imagine that Drake wouldn't have been aware of the sample or the optics that the songwriting credit would bring, or why he didn't simply ask OG Ron C to say the same words without an R. Kelly song playing in the background.

In an Instagram post on Sunday, Drake's long-time producer Noah "40" Shebib explained why they included the sample. Shebib explains that they had to include the sample because OG Ron C was singing a Kelly song in the opening segment of the track.

Shebib also reveals that the sample has been kicking around in demo form since 2018 -- predating Kelly's first appearance on the Surviving R. Kelly docuseries and the legal charges that followed.