No Longer Trapped In the Closet
Before I begin, let me just take my Feminist card out of my Louis and plunk it right on the figurative table. *Pushes it away, toward the center* Surely, you’ll want to revoke my card before you get to the end of this essay, and I’m fine with that. So there you go, it’s easier for you to nab.
Proudly wearing this metaphoric “F” on my ruffled dress has kept me too PC among some of the feminazis, as Limbaugh likes to call us. This has kept me from speaking from the crazy part of my mind where all the inappropriate, “feminists aren’t supposed to say that!” thoughts have been kept for too long. Today, I remove one from the vault:
I never stopped liking R. Kelly’s music.
Yes, I’m a self-respecting Black woman, even though you may argue otherwise. No, I wouldn’t leave anyone’s non-adult kids, certainly none in my charge, and not even the offspring of the people who will call me names in the comments section, alone with him. I wouldn’t protest outside a courthouse to “Free R. Kelly” like some Black women did when he was on trial. But you tell me Kellz is performing at the Barclay’s Center in Brooklyn this fall, and I might just sleep out overnight like they’re selling Jordans up in there.
There’s a reason that the “King of R&B” moniker never stuck when Whitney Houston (RIP) tried to anoint her husband with it to appease his ego: it’s a title best held by R. Kelly. He’s sold 50 million albums worldwide, and is one of just 1,2,3,4, 5— boom!— Black people to make the RIAA’s list of the best-selling people in the United States. Last year, Billboard named him the most successful R&B artist of the last 25 years. He’s got three Grammys for the same dang song (“I Believe I Can Fly”), and as proof of his songwriting skills, that long list of superstars he’s written for is always trotted out (Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, Celine Deon, Luther Vandross and more). But honestly? It’s everything on TP2.com from the opening lines (if you were in college anytime between 1994-2002 you know what they are) to “Feelin’ on Your Booty”, “When A Woman’s Fed Up” and “Ignition” that make him one of my favorite entertainers.
Until recently, I had not thought all that much about Kelly, had not played his music in I dunno how long, but I thought of him yesterday after watching that YouTube video of Brian McKnight where he dabbled in making an “adult mixtape”—allegedly a joke— and sang of promising to show a woman how her— wait for it — “pussy works”. I wrote about this song for The Root and called it McKnight’s attempt to “drive 120mph down the musical lane R. Kelly abandoned.”
(not sure if my first comment went through or not because I recieved an error message but if it did, I apologize for the repost!)
But no shade to you and your musical preference, I just can’t get down with R. Kelly. Everytime I hear his music I get disgusted. Coming from someone that has been molested, I can’t roll with him because i think abiut what he “alledgedly” did. Coupled with the fact that he married Aaliyah when she was 15 and he was 27, he’s always been linked to young girls. I actually did a presentation in college on whether an artists personal and moral life should be taken into account when listening to their music, I believe it should but some of my classmates disagreed so to each it’s own.
I’m from Chicago and I can tell you that growing up, there were always rumors swirling around about R. Kelly messing around with a girl at Kenwood (a high school) or other high schools. And this was waaaaaaaay before the famous court case. Couple that with the Aaliyah scenario and seems he just may have a pedo/teenophilia problem.
@Mi
pedo/hebephilia
@MI
I think your right about those rumors. My mom is from the South Side of Chicago, and almost the same age as R. Kelly and she has told me that her and friends have heard some of these same rumors as well.
@GW: “I actually did a presentation in college on whether an artists personal and moral life should be taken into account when listening to their music.” This is genuinely intriguing intellectual question! I don’t know where I stand on it because many of the great musical artists have been perverts/rapists/wife-beaters: MJ, Marvin Gaye (who, in his last years, left his wife for a 15/16yr old girl), Rick James (who, along with his girlfriend, violently raped a woman), James Brown (who beat his wife with a pipe), and many of the others we simply don’t know about because it never got aired publicly. I usually find a way to disconnect the artist from their personal psychoses. But you make a great point: I can’t imagine if I was a victim of molestation or rape that I’d be able to listen to these artists without thinking about their disgusting behavior. And, there is some clear male privilege (all the artists I named are men) operating in their ability to remain popular despite the public’s knowledge of some of their sick or violent predilections. Great comment!
Do you think your “moral” life should be taken into account when it comes to your job? The fact that you feel “disgusted” when you hear R. Kelly’s music says more about you than anything else. Perhaps your thoughts on R. Kelly are much deeper than him being an artist. Maybe, you’re a closet fan. At least, that’s the impression I’m getting.
@Mi
Chicagoans kill me with the whole “I’m from Chicago and I heard…” mess. Sweetie, you being Chicago doesn’t mean sh*t. Everyone across the countries have heard about the rumors regarding R. Kelly’s alleged relationships with underage women.
@Ful LOL. Nah I’m not a closeted fan, and even if I were, this would be the perfect post to “come out,” right? That was a cute assumption though. I think you were trying to use the whole “you’re a closeted gay because you make homophobic comments” type argument. Didn’t make sense.
@GW
Why are you associating a closet with homosexuality? I think you’re the homophobic, not me. I called you a closet fan meaning someone who hides their fandom. Ever heard of the saying “skeletons in the closet”?
You shouldn’t support someone who has s. ex with children.
R. Kelly has never had sex with children. Please, know what you’re talking about before typing.
@ Cel – the legal definition of a child is someone under 18. So if he married Aaliyah when she was 15 and and they consummated the marriage then he indeed has had sex with a child.
Are certain words filtered from comments?
Interesting…b/c I notice when I write criticism, it doesn’t pop up like my other comments.
Is the key word author?
Yes he is talented and has a gift, but the world is full or criminals who are talented and gifted as well. We do not usually openly support them and reinforce the air of mendacity in which they operate. I’ve wanted to let bygones be bygones for this dude for awhile now but you have to pay for what you did first.