I'm definitely not justifying it and I'm far from condoning it, but, from my understanding, the song that is supppsed to contain those lyrics is not on this album. Those are from some some shitty low budget track he put out a decade later when things weren't looking as hot. The Doug E Fresh track is from his 95 release. If it's Capleton, VMP is not selling that song, but they would be selling a Doug E Fresh song with a homophobic slur on it. One is right on the album for people to hear and would be an issue. The other you'd have to dig to find out about. Will someone inevitably do that and retroactively find issue? Probably. You've done that. But did VMP look into and worry about it? That's 2 different questions.
I didn't even know about it, but you're looking at a wikipedia page. Was it a huge controversy at the time? Maybe. But in what circles?
So, my point wasn't to condone it and get upset with Doug E Fresh, instead, and it definitely wasn't to justify them both, but simply to view it through the lens of what would likely be disqualifying, so we can figure out what album it is. I don't think anyone here is blowing off lyrics like that, as if they aren't a huge issue. It is definitely a problem.
He did later denounce homophobia, though.
Three prominent dancehall artists known for their anti-gay lyrics have signed the Reggae Compassionate Act.
www.theguardian.com
Should that matter? Maybe not. Killer Mike came out in recent years to denounce previous homophobia expressed in his lyrics and RTJ4 was just in the store.
I do wonder how much pushback VMP would get for a Clapton album, though. He's not only a major appropriater, but one with a horrifically racist rant in his past. And at the risk of making this a racial issue, they had zero problem with releasing Mayer's album this month. So, while I think that those Capleton lyrics look horrific and that an anti-homophobia pledge doesn't exactly remedy anything and exonerate him, I did just watch a number of white people defend a white man last month, because "his comments were from 10 years ago" and he is, supposedly, remorseful. I doubt we'll see the same "understanding" for a black man indoctrinated by a religion and culture to hold the archaic and reprehensible views that he presented. Might be something worth thinking about.