Lady Luck's Own Words

May 27, 2025 Statement from Kevin Liles

 

Three weeks ago, I received a letter from former Def Jam artist, Shanell Jones (a.k.a Lady Luck) and her legal team, threatening to publish a book and file a public lawsuit riddled with utterly false and horrendous accusations if I didn’t pay them $30 million dollars.  Ms. Jones threatened to allege that, almost 26 years ago when signed as a recording artist to Def Jam, she was “groomed.”  Ms. Jones also threatened to allege that I exposed myself to her and pushed her head towards my genitalia in an attempt to force her to perform oral sex while she was allegedly sitting in the driver’s seat of my car.  

 

None of this ever happened.  Her threatened allegations are totally false.  And they are contradicted by Ms. Jones’s many public statements about me and her experience at Def Jam.  They are also at odds with her continued outreach and relationship with both my family and me for the past 26 years.  Her story is a fabrication.  Rather than pay her and her legal team, I am publicly addressing what I view to be an extortion attempt. 

 

It seems Ms. Jones hopes to leverage the current news environment to pressure me into writing an exorbitant check in order to avoid the negative publicity that will likely result from her false claims.  I intend to vigorously fight any complaint she may file and will take whatever legal action is necessary against her and the attorneys who have participated in this attempted shakedown. 

 

Here are the facts: I signed Ms. Jones to Def Jam in 1999 after hearing her rap on Hot 97.  As I have always done, I gave a talented young artist an opportunity with a lucrative deal, access to recording studios, and introductions to the most popular hip-hop artists of the time.  In fact, she was featured on one of the hottest remixes in 1999 (“Simon Says”) and on “Symphony 2000” with hip-hop giants.  Ms. Jones had a monthly column in The Source and an in-depth feature story in The New Yorker.  She has previously acknowledged the efforts made to help her career.  She has talked about the fact that I introduced her to one of the most prominent managers at the time, but she declined to work with him.  Unfortunately, Ms. Jones’s career never reached the heights she or I hoped for and she asked to be released from her contract with Def Jam a few years later.  In many interviews, she has blamed many people for her failure to become a household name.  Following her departure from Def Jam, Ms. Jones regrettably turned to a life of crime.  Over the years, she has been incarcerated and described herself as a “three-time felon.”  Her criminal history includes felony convictions for first-degree armed robbery and heroin distribution.  In interviews, she has admitted to committing several other crimes and lying to the court to combat the charges.  Her history as a serial, self-described “criminal” is well-documented.  

 

Despite her history, when Ms. Jones has asked, I’ve tried to help her with her career.  In interviews over the past two decades, she’s spoken highly of me, noting that, while at Def Jam, I treated her “like [my] stepdaughter.”  As recently as last year, she reached out to me and asked for help with distribution of her new single.  After connecting her with the head of my former distribution company, she did an interview stating that I was helping her with distribution, describing it as a “full fucking circle” moment.  In another interview in February 2024, Ms. Jones said “I love Kevin Liles. I just spoke to him.”

 

In a 2020 Instagram post, she posted a picture of us with other artists, writing: “#TBT Happy Birthday Kev…(heart emoji). Could of wrote a paragraph but I already told u the other day (cry laughing emoji)”.  In another 2018 post of the same picture, she wrote “[t]hese men in this pic introduced me to the world . . . .”  She has said she misses Def Jam.  She has also had a longstanding relationship with my family.  She has called my mother “Mom,” my father “Pops,” and my sister her “sister” and a “lifelong friend,” regularly telling her she loves her.  Ms. Jones was in communication with my sister as recently as March 2025.  Given her history with my family and I, it is shocking that she has now fabricated these claims and demanded $30 million.

 

Her claims are untrue.  And you don’t have to take my word for it.  Numerous witnesses can clearly refute her made-up story.  And consider what Ms. Jones has said herself.  In 2016, in response to a direct question in a videorecorded interview, Ms. Jones stated she had not had any negative sexual encounters with an older man when she was young (“it wasn’t like an older man situation”) and that any negative encounters were with “boys” because “[b]oys are nasty. When we were younger, boys, you know what I mean, boys, you know, they like to touch or you know I might have my um, my babysitter’s brother, you know, he might show his cock.”  On her own podcast in 2022, she stated “I know victims of child abuse, I know people who were touched by pedophiles and, you know, me, myself, it was just always the older boys messing with me, you know what I’m saying, so I can’t.”  Again on her podcast in 2023, in a conversation about molestation and sexual abuse, she tripled down saying “me personally, I never had, you know, from the older guys.”  The only reason Ms. Jones has changed her story is because she is seemingly hoping to extract a payday from me.  In short, her claims are outrageous, false, and easily disproved.  

 

While it might sound surprising, I empathize with Ms. Jones’s struggles.  She has often spoken about her long history of substance abuse, addiction, and mental health challenges.  She has vented frustration and anger towards many individuals (including her own family) for the fact that she has never achieved the level of success she desires.  She has spoken about generational trauma and talked about attempting suicide after being ridiculed and ostracized following a high-profile rap battle against another female artist.  It is well-documented that the recent loss of her mother has taken a significant toll on her.  After trying to piece together what could have triggered these false accusations, I’ve been deeply alarmed by the many media interviews she’s participated in where she appears high or intoxicated.  In an August 2024 interview, the interviewers seemingly muted her microphone as she detailed her use of cocaine, “molly,” psychedelic mushrooms, ayahuasca, and bufo (described online as “psychedelic toad venom”).  In that same interview, she espouses the practice of “astral projection” and “building your force field” “to protect yourself once you leave your body” from “entities and other things that exist outside of what we can see with our normal eyes.”  Still, despite her extremely hurtful and false accusations, I pray for her healing and well-being. 

 

Regardless of my empathy for Ms. Jones, I will not be extorted, nor will I pay a dollar to those that threaten to ruin my reputation or the legacy I intend to leave the culture I’ve spent my life serving.  I will meet these false allegations (and any frivolous lawsuit filed against me) with all of the tools that the law provides.

 

My attorneys will be handling it from here.  It has been a difficult few months for my family and I as we’ve fought the false claims made against me, but I will continue my work to uplift and serve the culture and community. 

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- Kevin Liles | May 27, 2025