Magazines must love it when celebrities give controversial comments, because it’s a surefire way to get a lot of publicity. In this case singer Alicia Keys was widely quoted as telling Bender Magazine that the US Government invented gangster rap as a means to incite violence in the African American community. But Keys now says that her comments were misconstrued and she didn’t say that it was all a big conspiracy. She claims that what she meant was that the term “Gangster Rap” was overused by the media to stereotype and dismiss a genre of music that has important messages about the experience of inner city blacks. That’s a decent point, but it’s not likely to be taken at face value after the big hoopla she created with what initially sounded like a whacked out conspiracy theory:

According to an interview in the magazine’s May issue, the 27-year-old singer says: “`Gangsta rap’ was a ploy to convince black people to kill each other. `Gangsta rap’ didn’t exist.” She also is quoted as saying that she wears a gold AK-47 pendant around her neck “to symbolize strength, power and killing ‘em dead.”

“We stand by our story,” Blender spokeswoman Kate Cafaro told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

“My comments about `gangsta rap’ were in no way trying to suggest that the government is responsible for creating this genre of rap music,” Keys said in a statement issued by J Records. “The point that I was trying to make was that the term was oversloganized by some of the media causing reactions that were not always positive. Many of the `gangsta rap’ lyrics articulate the problems of the artists’ experiences and I think all of us, including our leaders, could be doing more to address these problems including drugs, gang violence, crime, and other related social issues.”

As for the AK-47 remark, Keys said Tuesday that AK-47 is a nickname given to her by friends “as an acronym for Alicia Keys and a metaphor for wowing people with my music and performances, `killing ‘em dead’ on stage. The reference was in no way meant to have a literal, political or negative connotation.”

[AP Story from The Huffington Post]

I’ve had to rely on secondhand accounts of this interview because the excerpt available on the Blender website doesn’t include these quotes from Alicia that are causing a stir. You kind of assume that she did make some broad sweeping comments like this if Blender stands by their story. As the Ent Lawyer on Crazy Days and Nights said, it’s not like the government suits were “sitting around listening to The Sugar Hill Gang and [speculating] that if they could just make it more violent that it would lead to black people killing each other.”

As for the media overusing the term “Gangster Rap” to stereotype music they didn’t understand or want to grasp the meaning of, that’s entirely plausible and probably true. A singer who wears a gun pendant around her neck isn’t the one who should be pointing that out to everyone as if it’s a big plot, though. She can really belt out a tune, though, and she should probably stick to that for the immediate future.

Thanks to The YBF for these photos from Blender.

I didn’t realize that the “Alicia Keys is a lesbian” rumors had reached such a crescendo that she actually felt the need to address them in the media. But apparently they have, and Alicia says she’s not bothered by the rumors, but she’s “as straight as they come,” according to the Sun. Apparently Keys was “rough around the edges” and that’s why everyone thought she was gay. Didn’t realize that.

R&B superstar ALICIA KEYS can understand why she was labeled a lesbian at the beginning of her career - because she was ‘rough around the edges’. The singer’s sexuality was the subject of much speculation after the release of her 2001 debut album Songs In A Minor.

Alicia is adamant she isn’t gay but realizes her appearance and attitude may have led people to draw their own conclusions. She said: “I was definitely rough around the edges. I look back at certain interviews and I’m like, ‘Damn! Did I have to look that hard? Did I have to do my hair that way? I could see why people couldn’t see the diamond in the rough. I didn’t take it to heart. I know what I am. I know it’s not true.”

[From the Sun]

Somehow I did not pick up on that at all. Keys never came off as uber-feminine, but I liked that about her. She was also dating her high school boyfriend for a seven years or so time, and was last linked to rapper Krucial. I didn’t realize it, but according to Wikipedia she graduated from the Professional Performing Arts School in Manhattan at sixteen and was the class valedictorian. She also had a full scholarship to Columbia, but dropped out to pursue her music career. Normally I’d say that was a dumb move, but it seems to have worked out pretty well.

Picture note by Jaybird: Here’s Alicia leaving “The Live Lounge for Jo Whiley” in London on November 2nd.. Images thanks to PR Photos.