Alicia Keys, photographed exclusively for her cover story for the May issue of Blender magazine by Andrew Eccles in 2008.

Blender interviews Alicia, who wears an Adidas track jacket with designer jeans tucked into suede boots, in her hotel room in Frederiksberg, Denmark on her “As I Am Tour” on March 7, 2008. That night she would perform at the Falkoner Center apart of her European leg of the tour. Playing Frankfurt the prior day, and Stockholm the following day to promote her 2007 album “As I Am,” which had sold well over 3 million copies in just over three months.

This particular interview stirred headlines when a section of it was “misrepresented” as Alicia put it in a statement.

We ask what other gangsta rappers she liked. And that’s when Keys drives a steamroller through the wall.

“Gangsta rap’ was a ploy to convince black people to kill each other,” she says. “Gangsta rap’ didn’t exist.”

Come again? A ploy by whom? She looks at us like its the dumbest question in the world. “The government.”

The magazine questioned if Alicia was a conspiracy theorist, saying that she told them that Tupac and Biggie were assassinated, their beefs stroked “by the government and the media, to stop another great Black leader from existing.” Adding that Alicia wore a gold AK-47 pendant around her neck, "to symbolize strength, power and killing 'em dead." Upon hearing about the pendant, Alicia’s mother Terri said that it “doesn't sound like Alicia."

In an official statement issued Tuesday, April 15, 2008, Alicia said that Blender magazine misrepresented her remarks regarding gangsta rap in her 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," Alicia 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."

As for the AK-47 remark, Alicia clarified that AK-47 was a nickname given to her by friends “as an acronym for Alicia Keys and a metaphor for wowing people with my music and performances, `killing 'em dead' on stage. The reference was in no way meant to have a literal, political or negative connotation.''

“We stand by our story,'' Blender spokeswoman Kate Cafaro told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

Following the statement, Alicia appeared via a phone interview in positive spirits to additionally clarify the misrepresentations. Comments she made to the magazine about gangsta rap were to make the point that the term had been "over-sloganized by some of the media causing reactions that were not always positive." Observing: “How many times have you communicated with your friends, who've known you for years, and you say something and you guys kind of end up in an argument because they misinterpreted what you said?”