“I’m not in no lane. I’m music and I just want people to know me as music.”
Those words were uttered by R. Kelly at the end of 2015 when speaking with Rolling Stone about his 13th album, The Buffet.
One of the project’s offerings included a duet with his estranged daughter, Ariiraye’. The song is entitled Be There, an emotional anchor that many consider the album’s best song.
“Who has the balls to write a song about the father and daughter not seeing each other, not being with each other, and need to see each other, and need balance in they lives,” said Kelly. “Who can put that song together where the melody worked, the hook works and the lyrics connect? So that’s when I step in. I’ll write the song that other people want to say but just don’t know how to put the words together.”
Kelly is certainly a musical genius when it comes to putting R&B melodies, hooks and lyrics together in ways that connect with people in deep and mysterious ways. And he’s right, he’s not in no lane. He went outside the lines long ago into a dark, twisted, deviant lane that begs a serious question to be answered: why in the world are people still spending money on his albums, on his concerts, and supporting a man who is now 50 years old with a predilection for preying on teenage girls?
R. Kelly Teenager?
via YouTube Capture
I’d like to see if he has the balls to write a song about a father and a daughter not seeing each other, not being with each other and the need to see each other, because he, himself, has manipulated the young girl’s mind and led her into isolation and sexual servitude through physical, verbal and emotional abuse.
We’ve known for a long time what R. Kelly is. Some of us have decided long ago that, as gifted as he is musically, supporting him and financially directing our hard-earned disposable income in his direction borders on wrapping our arms around, and singing and dancing to, something that at its essence is sick and evil.
If you haven’t read today’s Buzzfeed piece that alleges that he keeps at least six women on his various properties where he dictates what they eat, how they dress, when they bathe, when they sleep and how they engage in sexual encounters, which he reportedly records to show to his male friends, please do so.
According to the story, the women must adhere to a rigid set of “rules” or face punishment. He allegedly confiscates their cell phones and issues them new ones, and any communication with their parents is considered a breach of the rules punishable by physical force. The report says that the women have cut off all communication with their families, and that the most intense desire of his current affections is an 18-year-old singer from Florida.
In 2003, Kelly was arrested for 12 counts of possession of child pornography after police searched his home in Florida. At the time, he had already been accused of having sex with underage girls in four separate lawsuits. He was last tried in 2008 in Illinois, where he was acquitted on 14 charges of making child pornography in a case that focused on a single videotape that allegedly showed him having sex with a 14-year-old girl.
He’s been the subject of a dozen or more civil lawsuits that were settled out of court with cash payments. The girls signed nondisclosure agreements when they accepted the payments. In 1994, Kelly married his then-15-year-old protg, Aaliyah, for whom he wrote the album Age Aint Nothing But a Number.
Aaliyah – Age Ain’t Nothing But A Number (Official Video)
Official music video for Aaliyah’s ‘At Your Best (You Are Love)’. Click here to subscribe: http://smarturl.it/Aaliyahfollow Music video by Aaliyah performing At Your Best (You Are Love). (C) 1994 Blackground Enterprises / Zomba Recording LLC
R. Kelly has been one of the best-selling R&B artists of recent times, with over 40 million albums sold. He was named the most successful R&B artist of the last 25 years by Billboard in 2011.
And I have to admit, before his infamous sex tape with the 14-year-old girl surfaced, I rocked with that dude.
His 12 Play album, released at the end of 1993, was a certified hood banger. But looking back at the playlist, knowing what we know now, I’m disgusted, especially when hearing what used to be one of my favorite songs, “It seems like you’re ready.”
He’s begging the object of his affection in the song, asking her if she’s ready. Ready for what? To go all the way. And we can now picture him singing this to a child, telling her that her body is a playground, which is probably where he met her. He keeps calling her a “girl”, while saying that he wants to make her feel like a woman should, as if he’s the sexual conduit to transport her into adulthood.
He was misguided when he told Rolling Stone two years ago that he hoped people would know him “as music.” Because for a very long time, he’s been known by folks with a conscience as something else.
R. Kelly – Your Body’s Callin
R. Kelly’s official music video for ‘Your Body’s Callin’. Click to listen to R. Kelly on Spotify: http://smarturl.it/RKSpot?IQid=RKYBC As featured on The Essential R. Kelly. Click to buy the track or album via iTunes: http://smarturl.it/RKTEiTunes?IQid=RKYBC Google Play: http://smarturl.it/RKYBCPlay?IQid=RKYBC Amazon: http://smarturl.it/RKTEAm?IQid=RKYBC More From R. Kelly Same Girl: https://youtu.be/NFnKgIptbq0 I’m A Flirt Remix: https://youtu.be/rPr4F8dplFg Ignition (Remix): https://youtu.be/y6y_4_b6RS8 Follow R.
As a parent of teenage daughters, as much as I loved his music back in the day, I can’t even stomach the thought of him being in their presence today.
And I understand how people have a hard time separating the artist from the man. But I can’t do it.
If you ask me today, “What do you think of R. Kelly?”, his musical genius is the farthest thing from my thoughts. Because his art is not who he truly is. His actions are.
My response would be that R. Kelly is an unadulterated piece of excrement.
And if you’re still supporting him, you’re supporting how he treats women.
Specifically young women.
Very young women.
Some of them mere children and teenagers.
All of them females of color, which society places no value on.
And that might not make you a piece of feces too, per se. But it does make you feculent adjacent.
