Rolling Stone has reported that former protégé Res has claimed that Talib Kweli sexually harassed her and that he held her career hostage when she denied his advances. Res was signed to Kweli’s record label Javotti Media, and she appeared on numerous songs by Kweli. Res went after Kweli on Twitter recently, stating that she has evidence of his wrongdoing. Kweli alleges that Res is lying and illegally gave away a track in 2014 as part of an Indiegogo campaign that featured his vocals, thus necessitating a lawsuit.
In particular, she alleges that Kweli tried to kiss her in a pool in Puerto Rico and that now he is refusing to release recordings of her music from her time on the label. Kweli then took to Instagram to post a screenshot of a judge’s verdict in the sexual harassment case, showing that the judge has dismissed all claims.
Kweli and Res have been involved in a legal battle for a number of years, with the two sides continuing to sling mud in the media towards each other. The main issue stems from the inability of Res to deliver a full length album to Javotti Media, leading to a breach of the contract she signed with the label.
Kweli rose to fame as part of the influential rap duo Black Star with Yasiin Bey, and it appeared that earlier this year the duo would be reuniting to work on new music. However, Kweli recently shot down those claims, saying that nothing has happened as of right now, though there is a possibility of the duo working on new music in the future.
Photo credit Alyssa Fried
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