In case you missed the latest in hip-hop drops, rapper 21 Savage recently released his fourth studio album, “What Happened to the Streets?” While a new drop is usually cause for excitement, his project is also cause for discourse thanks to an unexpected sample–and it’s got the people divided!
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All of the chatter stems from the last song on his album. While the bars by themselves are fine, it’s the sample that has everyone talking. What sample could that be, you might ask? Well, it’s unfortunately a flip on Robert Sylvester Kelly, a.k.a. R. Kelly’s 2000 song “I Wish.” 21 keeps the same name but slightly switches up the lyrical content to reflect on all the friends and fellow artists he lost to street violence, addiction, and more.
“I wish Dolph would’ve Uber Eats them cookies instead. I wish Nipsey stayed at home with Lauren, chilled in the bed,” 21 could be heard saying during the earlier part of the song.
Other late rappers mentioned included Migos member Takeoff, Pop Smoke, XXXTENTACION, Rich Homie Quan, Juice WRLD and more.
Instead of focusing on the song’s sentimental value, some people were surprised that any R. Kelly song would be used in 2025, given his disgraced public status. As we’ve previously reported, Kelly is currently serving a 30-year federal prison sentence for his September 2021 convictions on racketeering and sex-trafficking charges.
“Big fan of 21 Savage. i enjoy his music, but i wanna know why he sampled a pedophile (aka R Kelly) in the last song ‘I Wish’. so many questions,” wrote one user on X/Twitter.
“Sampling R. Kelly in 2025 is a dusty ass choice, 21 Savage. The only redemption is all of R. Kelly’s royalties go to his victims,” said another.
Added another user: “21 Savage, What Happened to The Streets? sampling R Kelly on I wish. That’s all you trifling (street) ppl do is support gRAPE and ch!ld Molestation. You rappers are Trash on every level. Putting money into evil R Kelly’s pocket. The music sucks, and the album covers are UGLY!”
However, there were some who weren’t bothered by the Kells sample and defended 21 Savage for his choice.
“I don’t care what y’all say , that R. Kelly flip of I wish by 21 savage and Jawan Harris is [fire emojis],” one user stressed.
“Never in my life thought i would need to hear 21 Savage on R Kelly ‘I Wish’ beat but dawg,” another person explained.
One person decided to find the humor in the situation and joked: “R Kelly gone be looking for his residuals when he hear that I Wish on 21 savage album.”
Peep the song below.
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