Keys: Blender misrepresented my quotes

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NEW YORK, April 15 (UPI) -- U.S. recording artist Alicia Keys said Blender magazine misrepresented her remarks regarding gangsta rap in a recent interview.

"I feel it is necessary to clarify the comments that were made during my recent Blender magazine interview since they have been misrepresented," Keys said in a statement issued through J Records.

"Anyone who knows me and my character, knows that I am not a conspiracy theorist or, by implication, a racist. My comments about 'gangsta rap' were in no way trying to suggest that the government is responsible for creating this genre of rap music," the singer explained. "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. ...

"The implications about me are too radical and too dramatic a departure from whom I have continually demonstrated myself to be," she added. "I work so hard and give so much of myself to bring about positive change to this world, and I only wish those efforts received as much press and attention as the misinterpretations of the Blender article."