June 11, 2025 • 11 mins
When the headlines broke about a murder-for-hire plot against R. Kelly in prison, the world gasped—but Black women saw the pattern. In this explosive episode of No Tears For Black Girls, we go beyond the scandal to unpack the latest news, the wildest rumors, and the deeper truths the system wants to keep hidden.
Is R. Kelly being silenced for what he knows? What does this case reveal about the music industry, justice, and the way Black women’s pain is treated as spectacle? We break it all down—mixing true crime, celebrity gossip, and hard-hitting commentary, straight from the salon to your speakers.
Plus, get an exclusive preview of our upcoming novel, The Price of Silence, and the original soundtrack that’s already making waves.
Subscribe, share, and join the conversation—because justice isn’t just about headlines. It’s about changing the story.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
No tears for. Black girls.
When they disappear, no tears for black girls.
Like they were never here. What do we remember?
We'll speak their names. Their stories matter.
We'll break these chains. Welcome to No Tears for.
(00:24):
Black girls, the podcast. Where the real news is never
just what's on the front page, It's.
What we? Whisper in the salon what?
We share. Over the hum of the dryer and
what we refuse. To let the world forget.
I'm Samantha Paul. Tonight we're talking about.
R Kelly. But not just the headlines
you've seen tonight, we're pulling back the curtain on the
(00:47):
latest. Twists the.
Rumors. The conspiracies.
And the truths that the system would rather.
Keep buried. And we're doing it the way we.
Always do. With the wisdom, wit and fire of
black women who know how to readbetween the lines, picture the
Queen's Crown salon on a Saturday.
The air thick. With coconut oil, the sound of
(01:09):
laughter and side eye, and the latest gossip swirling like
incense, Tasha's at the front. Edges laid.
Locks wrapped in a scarf. Running the show like a general
quanda's, moving through the crowd, catching every.
Detail every bruise. Hidden under Fenty, every
nervous glance at the door and in the corner, Mama Esther's
(01:31):
stringing beads, whispering prayers for protection.
Old as dirt and twice as strong.Now imagine the news.
Breaks that R Kelly's lawyers have.
Filed an emergency motion claiming there's a murder for
hire plot against him in prison.The details are wild.
An Aryan Brotherhood gang leader, Michael Glenstein, says
(01:52):
prison officials offered him freedom if.
He killed Kelly. Stein says he was.
Ready to do it but backed out. At the last minute and told
Kelly everything. The government's response?
Seal the motion. Keep the public in the dark.
The salon erupts. Some of the women roll their
eyes. He's just trying to get out,
(02:13):
girl. Others lean in.
Voices low, but what if it's true?
What if he knows something aboutDiddy, about the industry?
About. All those secrets they keep
locked up. Tighter than a fresh silk.
Press the. Conversation turns as it.
Always does. To the patterns we see but the
(02:33):
world ignores. Because.
Here's the thing. R Kelly isn't just a headline.
He's a symptom of a system that's been broken for black
women and girls for generations.The same system that let him
operate. For decades.
That ignored the missing girls, the silenced victims, the
mothers who kept printing Flyerseven when the city tore them
(02:56):
down. The same system that now might
be trying to silence him. Not for justice.
But to protect itself. And the.
Gossip. It's.
Not just. Tea.
It's survival black. Twitter is buzzing.
Is R Kelly about? To snitch on the whole industry,
Is that why they want him gone? Some folks are connecting the
(03:19):
dots. Diddy's case.
New allegations, old rumors. About Aaliyah.
And a music industry that's always been quick to close ranks
when the truth. Gets too close.
It's giving clean house. Before the.
Feds come knocking energy and the sisters at Queen's Crown
know how to spot a cover up whenthey see one.
But while the world debates Kelly's fate.
(03:41):
The women and girls he. Hurt are still.
Living with the consequences. Some have his children, some are
still fighting to be heard, somelike his own daughter.
Have stories that got. Buried under the weight of his
fame, and the question hangs in the air.
If Kelly is released. Are his victims safe?
(04:02):
Or does the cycle of? Silence and intimidation just
keep spinning. This is where the world of the
price. Of silence comes alive in the
novel The Queen's Crown. Salon isn't just a place.
For hair. It's a war room, a sanctuary, a
place where women like Tasha, Quanda and Maya turn pain into
(04:22):
power. They map patterns of missing
girls. Code escape.
Routes into Braids and build networks of protection that the
city can't ignore. Armin, the data analyst.
Uses his skills to track the. Disappearances.
The police won't investigate connecting the dots that the
system tries. To erase.
(04:43):
Just like in the R Kelly. Case.
The women of Queens Crown know. That justice.
Isn't given, it's taken. They see the cover ups, The
Dirty cops. The way every missing woman's
case gets closed with no furtheraction.
They know that the badge can be a license for abuse and that the
only way to break. The cycle is to refuse.
(05:05):
To be silent. And let's be real.
The R Kelly. Story is more than a headline.
It's a warning. It's a reminder that when Black
women speak up, the world finds a way to shut us down, whether
it's through intimidation, erasure, or just plain
indifference. The message.
Is clear. Your pain doesn't matter unless
(05:26):
it's. Profitable, but we see.
The patterns. We see.
How the same names keep coming up?
Kelly Diddy. Even whispers.
About others, we see how the industry.
Protects its own how the system closes ranks and how time and
again it's black women who pay the.
Price so. Tonight.
(05:46):
As we talk about R Kelly. We're not just talking about one
man. We're talking about a culture
that lets men like him thrive, about a system that would rather
kill the messenger than face themessage.
We're talking about the need forspaces like Queen's Crown, for
networks of women who refuse to be silent.
And that's the spirit behind ThePrice of Silence dropping.
(06:10):
Juneteenth, 2025, free on AmazonKindle.
It's an urban suspense thriller.But it's also a love letter to
every. Black woman.
Who's ever had to fight to be heard?
The women of Queen's Crown are fighting the same battles as the
women in the R Kelly. Case.
Building something new out. Of the wreckage.
(06:31):
Refusing to let the system writethe ending.
We're also. Releasing a soundtrack 15
original songs inspired. By the.
Book composed. By the creator of this.
Podcast Jon Reedberg and performed by The Crown and Soul.
Collective neo soul. R&B.
Hip hop music that carries the weight of our stories and.
(06:52):
The hope that we can break the cycle.
As we close. Tonight's episode, I want to.
Leave you with the title track from the.
Upcoming soundtrack. The price?
Of silence. This neo soul duet is about
breaking. Silence, revealing truth and
finding freedom. Let these words.
Remind you nothing, not even love.
(07:16):
Is. Worth losing your voice?
I watched the shadows. Dance through plexiglass.
Truth. Caught in my throat, words I
couldn't pass. Silent melodies play beneath my
skin, each unspoken verse a battle I can't win.
It hurts when loyalty becomes the price of truth, When quiet
(07:37):
feels like safety. But hollows out your roots.
I should. Have let my voice.
Breakthrough these walls. Because nothing, not even love,
is. Worth the weight of it all.
Stay loved, Stay blessed. And stay.
Safe thank. You for tuning into another
episode of No Tears for Black. Girls, this is.
(07:58):
Samantha Paul. I watched the shadows dance
Duplexiglass, Truth caught in mythroat, words I couldn't pass.
Silent melodies play beneath my skin, each unspoken verse of
(08:20):
battle I can't win. They ask why my eyes hold
stories untold as I paint my smiling shades of fool's gold.
Yeah, I built these walls brick by brick, Understand?
And Pyro whispers touch of a heavy hand.
Your silence became the throne. I claimed it never saw the
(08:42):
change till they had your frame.Every text, the tracking device,
every caller. Leash power play disguised.
As love sweet release. It hurts.
When loyalty becomes the price of true, when quiet feels like
safety but hollows out yours. I should have let my voice
(09:04):
breakthrough these walls. Because nothing, not even love,
is worth the weight of it all. Mama's wisdom saw the bruises I
disguise changing like seasons where in different disguise
between brush strokes and Combs confessions lie.
(09:24):
While my spirit drowns in the sea of compromise.
Dig me traded for another day ofpeace.
So fragments scattered, begging for.
Relief checking. Your freedom fades with every
story I spend, each clock tickedanother secret.
I win. Started as protection, twisted
to control, even locked the way I still lay claim to your soul.
System working for me. Badge and gavel Blue Shield
(09:47):
black bruises just as color blind.
Sometimes whispers echo louder than screams ever could until
the silence wraps around you like a shroud.
Shadows I couldn't name now stand revealed in light.
(10:09):
Too late I realized I'm the one held tight.
Some prisons ain't built with bars, you dig.
They constructed from unspoken words, digital footprints,
broken promises, paper thin walls to echo with consequence.
Judge Gabble Falls system built to fail some keys invisible
(10:30):
until you're trapped inside. Now I'm breaking every chain
that kept me bound, finding strength and speaking truth,
reclaiming my ground. No more hiding scars beneath my
skin. The weight of silence was too
heavy to win, my voice rising like smoke from ashes of fear,
the melody of freedom ringing crystal clear.
(10:53):
Words have come only when you set them free.
Otherwise they're just another lock without a key.
It hurts when loyalty becomes the cost of truth, when quiet
feels like safety but cars out yours.
(11:18):
I should have seen the warning signs flashing in your eyes.
The words you kept inside becamemy own demise.
Because nothing, not even love, is worth losing your voice.
(11:38):
And freedom only comes when silence breaks by choice.
I came to set you free. Never saw the burden you carried
because of me. The price of silence.
I refuse to pay again.
No tears for. Black girls.
When they disappear, no tears for black girls.
Like they were never here. What do we remember?
We'll speak their names. Their stories matter.
We'll break these chains. Welcome to No Tears for.
(00:24):
Black girls, the podcast. Where the real news is never
just what's on the front page, It's.
What we? Whisper in the salon what?
We share. Over the hum of the dryer and
what we refuse. To let the world forget.
I'm Samantha Paul. Tonight we're talking about.
R Kelly. But not just the headlines
you've seen tonight, we're pulling back the curtain on the
(00:47):
latest. Twists the.
Rumors. The conspiracies.
And the truths that the system would rather.
Keep buried. And we're doing it the way we.
Always do. With the wisdom, wit and fire of
black women who know how to readbetween the lines, picture the
Queen's Crown salon on a Saturday.
The air thick. With coconut oil, the sound of
(01:09):
laughter and side eye, and the latest gossip swirling like
incense, Tasha's at the front. Edges laid.
Locks wrapped in a scarf. Running the show like a general
quanda's, moving through the crowd, catching every.
Detail every bruise. Hidden under Fenty, every
nervous glance at the door and in the corner, Mama Esther's
(01:31):
stringing beads, whispering prayers for protection.
Old as dirt and twice as strong.Now imagine the news.
Breaks that R Kelly's lawyers have.
Filed an emergency motion claiming there's a murder for
hire plot against him in prison.The details are wild.
An Aryan Brotherhood gang leader, Michael Glenstein, says
(01:52):
prison officials offered him freedom if.
He killed Kelly. Stein says he was.
Ready to do it but backed out. At the last minute and told
Kelly everything. The government's response?
Seal the motion. Keep the public in the dark.
The salon erupts. Some of the women roll their
eyes. He's just trying to get out,
(02:13):
girl. Others lean in.
Voices low, but what if it's true?
What if he knows something aboutDiddy, about the industry?
About. All those secrets they keep
locked up. Tighter than a fresh silk.
Press the. Conversation turns as it.
Always does. To the patterns we see but the
(02:33):
world ignores. Because.
Here's the thing. R Kelly isn't just a headline.
He's a symptom of a system that's been broken for black
women and girls for generations.The same system that let him
operate. For decades.
That ignored the missing girls, the silenced victims, the
mothers who kept printing Flyerseven when the city tore them
(02:56):
down. The same system that now might
be trying to silence him. Not for justice.
But to protect itself. And the.
Gossip. It's.
Not just. Tea.
It's survival black. Twitter is buzzing.
Is R Kelly about? To snitch on the whole industry,
Is that why they want him gone? Some folks are connecting the
(03:19):
dots. Diddy's case.
New allegations, old rumors. About Aaliyah.
And a music industry that's always been quick to close ranks
when the truth. Gets too close.
It's giving clean house. Before the.
Feds come knocking energy and the sisters at Queen's Crown
know how to spot a cover up whenthey see one.
But while the world debates Kelly's fate.
(03:41):
The women and girls he. Hurt are still.
Living with the consequences. Some have his children, some are
still fighting to be heard, somelike his own daughter.
Have stories that got. Buried under the weight of his
fame, and the question hangs in the air.
If Kelly is released. Are his victims safe?
(04:02):
Or does the cycle of? Silence and intimidation just
keep spinning. This is where the world of the
price. Of silence comes alive in the
novel The Queen's Crown. Salon isn't just a place.
For hair. It's a war room, a sanctuary, a
place where women like Tasha, Quanda and Maya turn pain into
(04:22):
power. They map patterns of missing
girls. Code escape.
Routes into Braids and build networks of protection that the
city can't ignore. Armin, the data analyst.
Uses his skills to track the. Disappearances.
The police won't investigate connecting the dots that the
system tries. To erase.
(04:43):
Just like in the R Kelly. Case.
The women of Queens Crown know. That justice.
Isn't given, it's taken. They see the cover ups, The
Dirty cops. The way every missing woman's
case gets closed with no furtheraction.
They know that the badge can be a license for abuse and that the
only way to break. The cycle is to refuse.
(05:05):
To be silent. And let's be real.
The R Kelly. Story is more than a headline.
It's a warning. It's a reminder that when Black
women speak up, the world finds a way to shut us down, whether
it's through intimidation, erasure, or just plain
indifference. The message.
Is clear. Your pain doesn't matter unless
(05:26):
it's. Profitable, but we see.
The patterns. We see.
How the same names keep coming up?
Kelly Diddy. Even whispers.
About others, we see how the industry.
Protects its own how the system closes ranks and how time and
again it's black women who pay the.
Price so. Tonight.
(05:46):
As we talk about R Kelly. We're not just talking about one
man. We're talking about a culture
that lets men like him thrive, about a system that would rather
kill the messenger than face themessage.
We're talking about the need forspaces like Queen's Crown, for
networks of women who refuse to be silent.
And that's the spirit behind ThePrice of Silence dropping.
(06:10):
Juneteenth, 2025, free on AmazonKindle.
It's an urban suspense thriller.But it's also a love letter to
every. Black woman.
Who's ever had to fight to be heard?
The women of Queen's Crown are fighting the same battles as the
women in the R Kelly. Case.
Building something new out. Of the wreckage.
(06:31):
Refusing to let the system writethe ending.
We're also. Releasing a soundtrack 15
original songs inspired. By the.
Book composed. By the creator of this.
Podcast Jon Reedberg and performed by The Crown and Soul.
Collective neo soul. R&B.
Hip hop music that carries the weight of our stories and.
(06:52):
The hope that we can break the cycle.
As we close. Tonight's episode, I want to.
Leave you with the title track from the.
Upcoming soundtrack. The price?
Of silence. This neo soul duet is about
breaking. Silence, revealing truth and
finding freedom. Let these words.
Remind you nothing, not even love.
(07:16):
Is. Worth losing your voice?
I watched the shadows. Dance through plexiglass.
Truth. Caught in my throat, words I
couldn't pass. Silent melodies play beneath my
skin, each unspoken verse a battle I can't win.
It hurts when loyalty becomes the price of truth, When quiet
(07:37):
feels like safety. But hollows out your roots.
I should. Have let my voice.
Breakthrough these walls. Because nothing, not even love,
is. Worth the weight of it all.
Stay loved, Stay blessed. And stay.
Safe thank. You for tuning into another
episode of No Tears for Black. Girls, this is.
(07:58):
Samantha Paul. I watched the shadows dance
Duplexiglass, Truth caught in mythroat, words I couldn't pass.
Silent melodies play beneath my skin, each unspoken verse of
(08:20):
battle I can't win. They ask why my eyes hold
stories untold as I paint my smiling shades of fool's gold.
Yeah, I built these walls brick by brick, Understand?
And Pyro whispers touch of a heavy hand.
Your silence became the throne. I claimed it never saw the
(08:42):
change till they had your frame.Every text, the tracking device,
every caller. Leash power play disguised.
As love sweet release. It hurts.
When loyalty becomes the price of true, when quiet feels like
safety but hollows out yours. I should have let my voice
(09:04):
breakthrough these walls. Because nothing, not even love,
is worth the weight of it all. Mama's wisdom saw the bruises I
disguise changing like seasons where in different disguise
between brush strokes and Combs confessions lie.
(09:24):
While my spirit drowns in the sea of compromise.
Dig me traded for another day ofpeace.
So fragments scattered, begging for.
Relief checking. Your freedom fades with every
story I spend, each clock tickedanother secret.
I win. Started as protection, twisted
to control, even locked the way I still lay claim to your soul.
System working for me. Badge and gavel Blue Shield
(09:47):
black bruises just as color blind.
Sometimes whispers echo louder than screams ever could until
the silence wraps around you like a shroud.
Shadows I couldn't name now stand revealed in light.
(10:09):
Too late I realized I'm the one held tight.
Some prisons ain't built with bars, you dig.
They constructed from unspoken words, digital footprints,
broken promises, paper thin walls to echo with consequence.
Judge Gabble Falls system built to fail some keys invisible
(10:30):
until you're trapped inside. Now I'm breaking every chain
that kept me bound, finding strength and speaking truth,
reclaiming my ground. No more hiding scars beneath my
skin. The weight of silence was too
heavy to win, my voice rising like smoke from ashes of fear,
the melody of freedom ringing crystal clear.
(10:53):
Words have come only when you set them free.
Otherwise they're just another lock without a key.
It hurts when loyalty becomes the cost of truth, when quiet
feels like safety but cars out yours.
(11:18):
I should have seen the warning signs flashing in your eyes.
The words you kept inside becamemy own demise.
Because nothing, not even love, is worth losing your voice.
(11:38):
And freedom only comes when silence breaks by choice.
I came to set you free. Never saw the burden you carried
because of me. The price of silence.
I refuse to pay again.
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