Exclusive: Teddy Riley Apologizes To Blackstreet, Reflects On Group’s Breakup & Tensions

Teddy Riley is extending an olive branch. The New Jack Swing pioneer has apologized to Blackstreet while admitting the group’s breakup left him personally hurt.

Music producer Teddy Riley is expressing considerable regret over past tensions with members of the R&B group Blackstreet, offering a public apology while reflecting on the group’s origins, breakup and his role in their success during a recent interview with AllHipHop.

Riley, widely credited as the creator of New Jack Swing and founder of Blackstreet, acknowledged that past conflicts led him to make critical remarks about the group, but said personal growth led him to reconsider his approach.

“I want to also apologize to those guys as well, you know, of calling them names or things like that,” Riley told AllHipHop’s Chuck Jigsaw Creekmur. “I started those guys and I felt like they broke my heart.”

Blackstreet, formed by Riley in the early 1990s following the breakup of his influential group Guy, became one of the defining R&B acts of the decade. The group achieved multi-platinum success with hits including “Before I Let You Go,” “Don’t Leave Me,” and the Grammy Award-winning No. 1 single “No Diggity,” helping cement Riley’s impact on the sound of contemporary R&B.

Despite that success, the group experienced internal conflicts, lineup changes and disputes over leadership and business decisions that ultimately strained Riley’s relationships with some members.

In his recent comments, Riley framed the fallout as something deeply personal.

“When your heart broke and you don’t want to even deal or you’re just going to say negative things and that’s not me,” Riley said. “That’s really not me at all.”

The producer said that despite their strained relationships today, he wanted to publicly take accountability for his own words.

“And I want to make an apology to them even though we’re not on good terms or great terms or even terms period,” Riley said. “My thing is it’s never been me. Everybody knows my heart.”

The most significant tension between Teddy Riley and Blackstreet centers on co-founder Chauncey “Black” Hannibal, who was instrumental in helping Riley transition from Guy into a new era with Blackstreet in the early 1990s.

Hannibal, a songwriter and vocalist who co-wrote hits like “Before I Let You Go,” became both a creative partner and later a business rival as disputes over the group’s direction and ownership emerged. Over time, disagreements about leadership and the Blackstreet name contributed to a fracture between the two. 

Riley suggested that some of his previous public comments came from feeling hurt rather than from his true character.

“I don’t like conflict. I don’t like that stuff,” he said. “But when you bring it to me, I got to give it back to you.”

At the same time, Riley did not downplay his role in the group’s creation and success, emphasizing his position as the architect behind the group’s sound and formation.

“My career is where it’s at because of me,” Riley said. “They didn’t make me. I made them.”

Still, he indicated he no longer wants to engage publicly in disputes about the group.

“My thing is I don’t like tearing anybody down,” Riley said. “But they’ve torn me down so much that you know I feel like I had to throw a couple of jabs or something like that.”

Riley added that he hopes to move forward by focusing on his legacy rather than past disagreements.

“I feel like in my next interviews, in my future interviews, I have nothing to say,” he said. “Because I’mma let it speak for itself.”

The comments come as Riley promotes his new memoir Remember the Times, which details his rise from Harlem’s music scene to becoming one of the most influential producers in R&B and Hip-Hop history. The book also explores his work with Guy, Blackstreet, Michael Jackson and other major artists, while examining the business challenges and personal relationships that shaped his career.

Ultimately, Riley said his decision to speak came from a place of reflection and gratitude.

“But right now, I just really feel like God is blessing me,” Riley said. “And I just really feel like this is something I wanted to say.”

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