"R. Kelly's the king of R&B. We all know that, man," the award-winning music producer said during a recent appearance on the "Club Shay Shay" podcast while discussing with host Shannon Sharpe whether it's possible to separate Kelly's art from his crimes.
Kelly will serve 19 years of his Chicago sentence concurrently with his New York sentence, meaning that Kelly could serve a total of 31 years in prison.
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"Everybody jump when you say R. Kelly," Timbaland said. "I'm like, so we just gonna ignore his music that he gave us, that we all jam to?"
"No, we can't do that. His art is his art, I ain't gonna bash the man's art," he added. "Don't mix music up with personal. Music is a feeling, it stands alone. Music is something that don't have no race, it brings people together. It don't have no drama with it. It is a place of enjoyment; a feeling, so don't bring drama into music. Leave that outside."
Representatives for Timbaland did not immediately reply to Insider's request for comment.
Though Timbaland never worked with Kelly, he did produce numerous songs, including "One in a Million" and "Try Again," for the late Aaliyah, who married Kelly in 1994 when she was 15 and he was 27.
During an episode of "True Hollywood Story" in 2011, Timbaland confessed to being "in love" with Aaliyah when they first met in 1995.
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He said he did not act on his feelings because of their seven-year age difference.
"She just a baby, I'm old," he said. "I said to myself, 'I'm just gonna be her brother.' Oh man, I was fightin', I was fightin' a lot, a big war. But I loved Aaliyah."
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