Polo G’s life may be filled with fast cars, private jets, and lavish jewels, but it wasn’t always that way. In fact, that is only a small slice of his day-to-day. On the “Darkside” rapper’s latest album, Hood Poet, Polo G dove into the hidden tragedies.
Today (December 13), he’s back on the storytelling kick. Polo G’s recent Hood Poet follow-up single, “Thug Memorials” is a gut-wrenching look at the sheer level of grief he copes with.
“And I was so lost for words, couldn’t even cry up at your funeral / I come from that corner where the hustlers trap and shooters shoot / Straight-eights and Scat Packs, they ain’t slidin’ in no Subaru / Turn you to a savage, what them hard times’ll do to you / All my homies died young, smokin’ ’til my mind numb / Steppin’ like a marchin’ band, might hit they block with nine drums / Took a lot of losses right where me and all my guys hung / Opps talkin’ sh*t, that left my pride stung,” he raps.
The tribute serves as a tribute to Polo G’s fallen friends and family. Although the record doesn’t feature any credited artists, it does prominently propel a controversial musician forward. Instead of Polo G taking a crack at singing, he used a sample of fellow Chicago native R. Kelly’s 2000 song “I Wish.” While other entertainers have walked back their past collaborations with the singer following his conviction for child pornography among other charges, Polo G doesn’t seem as bothered.
Listen to “Thug Memorials” above.
Hood Poet is out now via Columbia Records. Find more information here.
R. Kelly is behind bars, but his hits are still bringing in the bag. According to AllHipHop, revenue from his catalog paid off a federal judgment of over $500,000.
Court docs from the Eastern District of New York highlight a payment of $520,549.90 that covered restitution, fines, and penalties. The payment was broken down into $379,649.90 in restitution, a $100,000 fine, and a $40,000 Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act assessment. There was also a $900 special assessment.
In October, R. Kelly attempted to take his sex crimes convictions to the highest court possible. They responded with a “no, thank you.”
R. Kelly is currently serving 30 years in prison for sex trafficking, concurrent with 20 years for child pornography, and he petitioned the Supreme Court stating he was retroactively prosecuted. According to CNN, federal prosecutors declined to respond to the appeal.
R. Kelly’s case was just one of hundreds denied by the Court.
In August 2024, R. Kelly’s legal battle began when he claimed that prison employees used the internal prison system to access his sensitive information unlawfully. According to Kelly, this information was then sold to Tasha K, who shared it on her popular blog. Kelly’s lawyer argued that Tasha K leveraged this information to harass him and influence witnesses in his ongoing legal battles, particularly his criminal prosecution in the Eastern District of New York (EDNY).
However, the U.S. Government has now fired back, requesting that the case be dismissed. In documents obtained exclusively by In Touch, government lawyers denied breaching their duty of care to Kelly, arguing that the United States cannot be held liable for the alleged actions of individual prison employees. They stated, “The United States is not subject to institutional liability stemming from allegedly widespread negligent practices or policies.”
While the government acknowledged that an Inspector General investigation was conducted into the unauthorized access to Kelly’s emails, visitor logs, and phone records, they pointed out that no charges were ever brought against the officer named in Kelly’s complaint. In fact, the Chicago Sun-Times reported that the employee in question had retired shortly after the investigation commenced in 2019.
Interestingly, the government’s response appears to indirectly confirm that a prison worker did, in fact, provide information to Tasha K that was accessed from the internal system. Despite this, the government maintains that this does not constitute grounds for holding the entire U.S. Penal System accountable.
Tasha K, for her part, has vehemently denied any involvement in illegal activity, taking to Instagram to refute Kelly’s allegations. Nonetheless, Kelly’s legal team contends that the leaked information caused chaos in his personal life and compromised his defense in the criminal case against him.
As the U.S. Government pushes for the lawsuit to be thrown out, Kelly’s legal challenges continue to mount. With his reputation and freedom on the line, this latest development in the R. Kelly saga underscores the intense scrutiny and controversy surrounding the disgraced singer inside and outside the courtroom. The court’s decision on dismissing the case will be closely watched, as it could set a significant precedent for handling sensitive information within the U.S. prison system.
The U.S. Government has filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought by R&B singer R. Kelly, who is currently serving time on multiple charges, including racketeering and sex trafficking. The lawsuit, which was filed last year, accuses the U.S. Penal System and gossip vlogger Tasha K of violating his privacy by allegedly accessing and publishing his private prison emails and call logs.
In a heartbreaking and deeply personal revelation, Buku Abi, the daughter of disgraced singer R. Kelly, has come forward in a new two-part documentary on the TVEI streaming network titled Karma: A Daughter’s Journey. Abi, born Joann Kelly, shared her harrowing experience of being sexually abused by her father as a child, leading to years of emotional torment and multiple suicide attempts.
The documentary, which aired last week, features Abi speaking candidly about the traumatic events that shattered her family and her sense of self. The Daily Mail reports that Abi’s alleged abuse at the hands of her father triggered severe depression, ultimately leading her to contemplate taking her own life on multiple occasions.
“For a long time, I was in a really hard space mentally, and so I ended up in a mental hospital, a psych ward, whatever you want to call it,” Abi admitted during the series. “I hit a point in my life where, multiple times, I had tried to take my own life.”
Abi revealed that her emotional breakdown finally came to light when she confided in her mother, Andrea Kelly, while being driven to school. Overcome with emotion, she broke down in tears, confessing her deep mental anguish to her mother, who immediately checked her into a mental hospital. Abi stayed under close observation for two-and-a-half weeks, followed by months of outpatient care.
“I was on really hard suicide watch. And then for two, three months after that, I was in outpatient, basically, so I had to go there every day,” Abi explained, detailing the intensity of her mental health struggles.
The documentary captures not just Abi’s story but also the impact her mental health had on her younger siblings, Jaah and Robert Jr., now 23 and 22. In one of the most emotional moments of the series, Robert Jr. described the fear of not knowing whether his sister would survive each day. “That was definitely scary. Waking up and not knowing, is my sister going to be alive?” he said, reflecting on the uncertainty that haunted their household.
Abi also recounted a particularly raw moment when she and her mother visited a Target store, and Andrea Kelly noticed fresh self-harm scars on her daughter’s body. “I just got to a point where I didn’t care anymore. I didn’t care if I lived or died. I didn’t care about what happened to me,” Abi shared. Her mother, sensing the depth of Abi’s pain, immediately expressed concern, and it was then that Abi opened up about the severity of her mental state, telling her mother, “I don’t think I’m OK. I don’t think that I can do this. I don’t think that I’m going to make it through to live out the rest of my life.”
Throughout the documentary, Abi refrains from detailing the specific abuse she allegedly suffered at her father’s hands, but she makes it clear that it irrevocably damaged her perception of him. “I didn’t know that even if he was a bad person that he would do something to me,” she said, explaining the deep conflict she felt in coming to terms with her father’s actions. For years, Abi was too scared to tell anyone about what had happened, even her own mother.
While Abi did not delve into explicit details of her trauma, she made her stance on her father’s current imprisonment clear. “Prison is a well-suited place for him to be,” she stated, adding that this conclusion came from her own “personal experience” with him.
R. Kelly, once one of the biggest names in R&B, has been convicted of multiple charges, including sexual exploitation, human trafficking, and racketeering. His ongoing legal troubles, compounded by the emotional testimonies from his victims, have revealed a disturbing pattern of abuse that spanned decades. Abi’s testimony in Karma: A Daughter’s Journey adds yet another layer to the horrifying allegations against the singer, showing how his actions have irreparably damaged not only his victims but also his own family.
Abi’s brave decision to speak out about her abuse and mental health struggles provides a crucial reminder of the lasting impact of trauma and the importance of seeking help. Her journey, though marked by unimaginable pain, is also one of resilience and survival.
R. Kelly’s lawyer is responding to the singer’s daughter after she claimed he was sexually abused in a new documentary.
In Karma: A Daughter’s Journey, a two-part documentary that debuted on TVEI Streaming Network, Buku Abi reveals that she reported the alleged abuse to her mother, Andrea Kelly, in 2009 when she was just 10 years old.
“He was everything to me,” Abi, now 26, says in the emotional first episode, which is now available to stream. “For a long time, I didn’t want to believe it. I didn’t think someone, even as flawed as he was, would do something like that to me.”
Though Abi, whose real name is Joann Kelly, does not delve deeply into the specifics of the abuse in this initial episode, she shares how fear kept her from speaking out for years. “I was too scared to tell anybody. I was too scared to tell my mom.”
In response, Kelly’s lawyer, Jennifer Bonjean, appeared on the Banfield show on News Nation to dispel the claim.
“The allegation was investigated by the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services,” Bonjean said. “He’s under criminal investigation at the time. He’s probably the most highly-investigated individual on the planet when it comes to these types of claims. The Illinois DCFS determined that the allegation was unfounded many years ago.
“He certainly denies it, and it’s our position that, if there was any merit to the claims, certainly charges would have been brought.”
Buku Abi, daughter of the controversial singer R. Kelly, has come forward for the first time to discuss the alleged abuse she experienced as a child at the hands of her father.
In Karma: A Daughter’s Journey, a two-part documentary that debuted today on TVEI Streaming Network, Abi reveals that she reported the alleged abuse to her mother, Andrea Kelly, in 2009 when she was just 10 years old.
“He was everything to me,” Abi, now 26, says in the emotional first episode, which is now available to stream. “For a long time, I didn’t want to believe it. I didn’t think someone, even as flawed as he was, would do something like that to me.”
Though Abi, whose real name is Joann Kelly, does not delve deeply into the specifics of the abuse in this initial episode, she shares how fear kept her from speaking out for years. “I was too scared to tell anybody. I was too scared to tell my mom.”
Abi, who has remained largely out of the public eye during her father’s legal battles, feels her father’s current imprisonment is fitting. “That moment changed my life… it changed who I was as a person,” she reflects. After opening up to her mother, Abi and her siblings, Robert and Jaah, stopped visiting their father.
R. Kelly attempted to take his sex crimes convictions to the highest court possible. They responded with a “no, thank you.”
R. Kelly is currently servince 30 years in prison for sex trafficking, concurrent with 20 years for child pornography, and he petitioned the Supreme Court stating he was retroactively prosecuted. According to CNN, federal prosecutors declined to respond to the appeal.
R. Kelly’s case was just one of hundreds denied by the Court.
In August 2024, R. Kelly’s legal battle began when he claimed that prison employees used the internal prison system to access his sensitive information unlawfully. According to Kelly, this information was then sold to Tasha K, who subsequently shared it on her popular blog. Kelly’s lawyer argued that Tasha K leveraged this information to harass him and influence witnesses in his ongoing legal battles, particularly his criminal prosecution in the Eastern District of New York (EDNY).
However, the U.S. Government has now fired back, requesting that the case be dismissed. In documents obtained exclusively by In Touch, government lawyers denied breaching their duty of care to Kelly, arguing that the United States cannot be held liable for the alleged actions of individual prison employees. They stated, “The United States is not subject to institutional liability stemming from allegedly widespread negligent practices or policies.”
While the government did acknowledge that there was an Inspector General investigation into the unauthorized access of Kelly’s emails, visitor logs, and phone records, they pointed out that no charges were ever brought against the officer named in Kelly’s complaint. In fact, the Chicago Sun-Times reported that the employee in question had retired shortly after the investigation commenced in 2019.
Interestingly, the government’s response appears to indirectly confirm that a prison worker did, in fact, provide information to Tasha K that was accessed from the internal system. Despite this, the government maintains that this does not constitute grounds for holding the entire U.S. Penal System accountable.
Tasha K, for her part, has vehemently denied any involvement in illegal activity, taking to Instagram to refute Kelly’s allegations. Nonetheless, Kelly’s legal team contends that the leaked information caused chaos in his personal life and compromised his defense in the criminal case against him.
As the U.S. Government pushes for the lawsuit to be thrown out, Kelly’s legal challenges continue to mount. With his reputation and freedom on the line, this latest development in the R. Kelly saga underscores the intense scrutiny and controversy surrounding the disgraced singer, both inside and outside the courtroom. The court’s decision on whether to dismiss the case will be closely watched, as it could set a significant precedent for the handling of sensitive information within the U.S. prison system.
The U.S. Government has filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought by R&B singer R. Kelly, who is currently serving time on multiple charges including racketeering and sex trafficking. The lawsuit, which was filed last year, accuses the U.S. Penal System and gossip vlogger Tasha K of violating his privacy by allegedly accessing and publishing his private prison emails and call logs.
About two and a half months ago, disgraced R&B act R Relly filed an appeal to the Supreme Court for his federal sex crimes. Him and his attorney, Jennifer Bonjean, were making the statute of limitations argument. As we said previously, they pointed to the PROTECT Act of 2003 and how it’s not applicable. Bonjean presented to prosecutors that the act has no clause explicitly stating that Kelly should have been charged for his alleged actions based on them occurring in the 1990s.
The court responded back with the fact that the PROTECT Act extends the statute of limitations indefinitely for alleged crimes committed post 2003. Back then, the Supreme Court said it would take a little while to come to a decision. Well, that time is now, according to HOLLYWOOD UNLOCKED and Yahoo!News. For R Kelly, he looks to be in no-man’s-land, as they have decided to reject this appeal.
MASHANTUCKET, CT – JULY 19: R. Kelly performs at Foxwoods Resort Casino on July 19, 2015 in Mashantucket, Connecticut. (Photo by Dexter A. Jones/Getty Images)
Overall, both sources say that it was shut down without any form of comment from anyone. This decision was made following the government refusing to speak on why they came to this conclusion. Again, this is all in connection to his Chicago charges. Now, with this appeal being denied, R Kelly appears to not have much a chess move to make.
What are your thoughts on R Kelly’s appeal being shut down by the Supreme Court? Do you think he’s officially cooked now, why or why not? If not, what could his next move be? We would like to hear what you have to say, so leave your thoughts in the comments. Additionally, always keep it locked in with HNHH for all of the latest news surrounding R Kelly. Finally, stay with us for everything else going on in the music world.
The Diddy scandal has caused a lot of celebrity conspiracy theories to re-emerge, including some harrowing rumors about Jay-Z, R. Kelly, and Aaliyah. Moreover, Dame Dash recently explained why he didn’t want to be involved in Jay and Kelly’s 2002 collab album, Best Of Both Worlds, due to the latter’s alleged sexual assault of Aaliyah. As Dame alleges below, Hov allegedly moved forward with this decision despite some conversations within the Roc that warned against it. Furthermore, it seems like they were all able to settle their disagreements by working out how they would handle the money from the project.
“When it came down to R. Kelly, there was a conversation had about the morals,” Dame Dash remarked. “Like, it’s morally wrong to do a project with someone that we know r**ed my girl or r**ed anybody, for that matter. So I do know that that conversation was had, and I was really surprised that he moved forward with that relationship. I don’t know Epstein, so I never had the chance to walk away from him.
“But I do know that when that project did come out, I didn’t want any part of that project,” Dame Dash continued about Jay-Z. “I didn’t want any of the money to go to Roc-A-Fella or me. When it came to Roc-A-Fella, it was around the time that Jay was trying to kind of separate himself from us. And he was saying that he didn’t want to be a part anymore. We resolved that issue with – look. Because he wanted me to dilute, and he wanted Biggs to dilute. And I wasn’t diluting, because I know what I mean and what I do for business, and Biggs was ready to dilute.
“But our OG, Deuce from St. Croix, kind of stepped in and was like, ‘That’s not right,’” Dame Dash concluded. “And that’s how we resolved it. The way we resolved it was, ‘Yo, you keep all the money from that project. I don’t want no parts of it,’ being Best Of Both Worlds. So again, I mean, that is true. But… you know, I just think that… I guess I think homie has to answer some questions right now.”
Andrea Kelly has had a difficult decade. Despite being divorced from R. Kelly, the choreographer was dragged in the media circus surrounding his arrest. R. Kelly was convicted on multiple charges of child sexual abuse in 2022, and is currently serving three decades behind bars. Andrea Kelly was subject to lots of slander and speculation, given that she was married to the singer for over a decade. She has decided to set the record straight, however. Andrea Kelly announced plans to publish a tell-all book about her life. And she’s using R. Kelly and Diddy to promote it.
The announcement came via Instagram. Andrea Kelly posted a video with narration and dramatic music. Under the Red Carpet is the name of the book, and the caption under the video provides more context. Kelly claims that she has gotten tired of the lies, and is writing a book in order to “disrupt the deception” that’s been going on. Furthermore, she posits that now is the time to “speak without fear” and take back control of her narrative. “No more forcing a smile to get through the pain of being me,” she writes. “No more forcing a smile to get thru [sic] the pain of being me.”
Andrea Kelly goes a step further, though, and claims that Under the Red Carpet will shine a line on others in the industry as well. Kelly promises to free people who have been silenced up until now. At least, that’s what the caption says. “My book is going to set so many free,” she adds. “And if you have a problem, it’s not with me.” She then urges naysayers to take their issues up with God. The book will obviously detail Andrea Kelly’s relationship and subsequent divorce from R. Kelly. If we’re being frank, the singer will be the selling point of the book. The video suggests that Andrea Kelly may shed light on another disgraced mogul, however: Diddy.
The video includes several images and clips of Diddy, some in which he’s alongside R. Kelly. Given how Diddy has become the focus of the biggest entertainment scandal of 2024, it would make sense. Diddy and R. Kelly rose to fame around the same time in the 1990s, and R. Kelly was a frequent collaborator of Diddy’s protege, The Notorious B.I.G. Andrea Kelly doesn’t mention Diddy by name in her narration, but the inclusion of his image feels very intentional. It seems we will have to wait until the book comes out to learn if Diddy is mentioned.
R. Kelly continues to serve his 30-year prison sentence for racketeering and sex trafficking charges, but new allegations will come forth soon. Moreover, the upcoming documentary R. Kelly’s Karma: A Daughter’s Journey will focus on new allegations from his family, specifically from his daughter Joanne Kelly. In a trailer for the project, she reflects on her past bond with the singer and her current thoughts on his 2021 conviction. In addition, this piece will also apparently bring forth new allegations of misconduct from Joanne against her father, although the specific nature of these is unclear. However, she also looked to the future.
Furthermore, Joanne Kelly is pregnant at press time, and she spoke on how she plans to explain R. Kelly’s situation and actions to her family. “If my son asks questions, I’m going to be as truthful as possible. And I will not be taking my son to prison to meet his grandfather,” she expressed. In the past, much of the R&B star’s family has reckoned with his disturbing legacy and actions. Joanne’s other siblings, Jaah Kelly and Robert Kelly Jr., will also appear in this doc.
R. Kelly’s Karma: A Daughter’s Journey Trailer: Watch
“He knows exactly why we can’t have the relationship that we would have liked with him,” Joanne remarked in the trailer for this upcoming R. Kelly documentary. “He was my everything. For a long time, I didn’t even want to believe that it happened. I didn’t know that even if he was a bad person that he would do something to me. I really feel like that one millisecond completely just changed my whole life.” While the world reacts to these new allegations, he continues to face issues in prison and advocate for his privacy.
“I don’t believe none of this s**t,” R. Kelly said of the current Diddy allegations and his federal case, which also comprises of sex trafficking and racketeering charges. “You could tell me about Puffy, you could tell me about anybody. You could tell me on the news, the weather, the sky is blue, I’m not gonna believe the s**t. ‘Cause I’m in it now, and I know what they did.”
