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Just in case you're picked for jury duty on this case, we want to remind you that it has been five years since R. Kelly was indicted for 21 counts of child pornography. We know by the time someone gets their shit together and pins him to a chair in a courtroom some people may have forgotten what it was all about in the first place, and even be inclined to think the whole thing was made up.
You've got to hand it to him; R. Kelly hasn't avoided the news since he peed on an underage girl (allegedly). He has "captured the hearts and minds" of Americans with each new installment of Trapped in a Closet, he "selflessly" dedicated a song to those in the Virginia Tech community and he even burst his "appendix."
While we know the last one was a cleverly executed attempt to stall his trial by taking a rare combination of Chinese herbs*, we can't help but be a little more exasperated each time we hear any other news about the man. Seriously — are we that fickle?
We're just saying that this charade has gone on long enough. If judges keep falling off ladders and Kelly keeps exploiting ancient Chinese medicine, we might never find out whether R. Kelly is the believing-he-can-fly, remixing-to-ignition guy he was, or if he's the sicko, disgusting-and-needs-to-be-in-jail-for-life dirt bag other dirt bags have watched in the abhorrent tape at the center of this whole debacle.
Each passing year means the victim seems less like the vulnerable teenager she was, and the remade image R. Kelly has been attempting to forge for himself since the indictment means he could look less like the offender who violated her. With the legal process taking so long as R. Kelly force-feeds people yet another record, it really feels like the victim has been forgotten altogether.
*Not true.
Image via waitingfordorothy.blogspot.com.
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After this long they should just dismiss the damn case. Justice delayed is justice denyied.
They must have a week case and were waiting for him to screw up more.
There's a lot of dispute whether or not the girl who was actually in the video is actually the plaintiff and weather or not the whole thing was digitally altered to make it look like it was r. kelly.
i mean, i'm not saying the guy is innocent but give the dude a fair trial before you pass judgement alicia dorr - as hard as that may be as a women's studies major or whatever it was that made you into the extremely pissed off and annoyed person you are today.
oh and i will go on record as saying that double up is one of the best albums of the year.
respect kells!
"Trapped in a closet" is really reason enough to lock him up for life, to spare the world more of that talentless crap.
As a wise old attorney said to me many years ago: "If they don't try your client, they can't convict him."
I wonder why the State's Attorney's office isn't going ballistic about this; the fact that it isn't is curious.
p.s
Matty you shouldn’t list Southside barbershop talk as “a lot of dispute”
Just like I’m not going to mention how more than one person told me that they use to R. Kelly all the time outside of Kenwood picking up teenage girls in his purple hummer even though I believe it. But the FACT that he married Alia at age 15 makes him a criminal, who "got off" in more ways than one because people looked the other way.
It’s so sad and typical that you would denigrate women studies. Too bad your school didn’t require at least two courses of it to graduate
.
Also doesn't he have a string of similar incidents that were settled out of court? Hard to feel sorry for a dude who sort of brags about this stuff in his songs and thinks of himself as a modern day MLK and Muhammad Ali. As an 'outsider' artist I think he's pretty excellent though. He'll be having people writing papers about him 50 years from now.
I hear his music sounds good in various chords, but especially A Minor.
Zing, Space Jam!
matty, he's settled many civil lawsuits out of court that were brought by young women who were "sexed up" by Kelly when they were underage. So it's pretty clear that Kells goes out of his way to avoid a "fair trial."
Also, which part of Double Up makes it the best album of the year? The part where he's calling women bitches or the part where he's saying they need to be "cuffed?"
according to one of the links in this post, his previous albums have sold tens of millions of copies apiece. alicia, how is that "force-feeding"? if anything, sounds like there's a huge appetite for his music...which i personally can't fathom, but that's neither here nor there.
okay one more thing...i'm sorry but i can't resist, and i hope this is taken in the constructive spirit in which it is intended, but could chicagoist writers PLEASE put a post-it note on their monitors telling them to spell-check before they post? or do something else that they aren't doing now to remind them?
at some point you have to acknowledge that you are writing for an audience, and that as a writer you owe that audience at least to get the spelling right. in the same way a musician tunes her guitar before going on stage or a chef tastes the broth before printing the menu, a writer has a responsibility to spell check before posting. especially when it's been brought up by many people many times. i mean, this is turning into a real debaucle!!!
(now i'll brace for some a-hole to find some spelling or grammar problem in my comment, which will completely miss the point as i am not a chicagoist writer and there is no spell check function in this comments box...but whatevs)
There's a lot of dispute whether or not the girl who was actually in the video is actually the plaintiff and weather or not the whole thing was digitally altered to make it look like it was r. kelly.
Riiight. And wasn't the urine stream also supposed to be digitalized? No, wait, nevermind...I saw that on The Dave Chappelle Show.
First they came for the Spook then the brave Chicagoist Writers!
Ohm, Erin, You are, like, insane right? I stopped counting when I reached six "boo boo"
in the sad excuse you call a “post”. How dare you criticize any one else? News flash, you can spell/grammar check on a word doc., then cut, paste and post it. Not that I’d waste time doing this, but at least, I’m not tossing stones.
I don’t mind the grammar attacks. I am confident in my writing and I know the attacks are content based. What’s disturbing is that the last two times I’ve seen these scurrilous attacks (of course by people who disagree),are against Chicagoist Writers who are writing boldly to add important insight too often over looked. How very American!
Clearly these writers meet minimal grammatical standards,what ever these may or may not be. And it’s not like they’re getting paid, so back off. But for Lordie Lordie Lord Sakes, if you gotta play grammar guarding, can you at least add something intellectually significant to the debate? That’s what burns me!
Now please allow me to add some more substance to this very important debate!
Where is the N.A.C.C.P, Urban League, or (especially) N.O.W. on this? Why the silence?
I mean yall know that I can’t stand the NACCP or the Urban League, so it’s not "race baiting" for me to call N.O.W., the National Organization of White Women, and I would add an R for (Rich), but I'd need approval from the N.O.W. Board first!
Great Post Dorr, keep em open
and Stoner.... what about the Dave Chappelle "Piss on You R. Kelly Remix", son!
I hate to say this but you people just don't like black pop. For that reason you want to throw the people who make it in jail.
The NPR folks are all talk...and they don't listen to Power 92.
Sorry that rappers threaten your pitchfork reading, dirty white kid loving asses.
Next time, would a BLACK PERSON or even a minority of any sort please be able to post on the chicagoist?
this place is utterly white washed and i am really dissapointed rachel bowden refuses to find a single minority reporter for this site.
I hate to say this but you people just don't like black pop.
Actually, that's only half right. I just don't like pop, period. And stop being such a damn, whiny R. Kelly apologist already...
It takes a man to admit that he likes R. Kelly's music, but it takes an even bigger man to also admit that, yes, R. Kelly probably does enjoy peeing on teen-age girls.
Just for the record, every time Chicagoist posts for a new writing spot, anyone who is willing to write for free, from work/home/whatever, and has thick skin can apply. Rachelle doesn't ask you to fill out a questionaire asking you what color that skin is.
You can make fun of me for my grammar or my opinions or that you think I'm from the suburbs or whatever, but the statement about Chicagoist needs to be put in perspective.
matty, the axe you're grinding is dull.
the naccp is the national association for child care professionals. the naacp is the national association for the advancement of colored people. which one of these orginizations did you want to be "on" this? either would work, really.
I get the feeling that Matty is white, I mean I certainly don’t know a lot of brothas who would call themselves "Matty"!
And Power 101 sucks son like any Midwest station that plays today’s R and B or as
my boys from “Strong Island”, Dela Soul rightly coined it, “Rap and Bullsh*t”
Actually folks like Max Well, John Legend, Lauren, D'Angelo and Erykah Badu
continue to be R and B’s saving grace. They are the only ones keeping the tradition alive, of the old Michael Jackson, Marvin Gay, Sly and the Family, the Commodores, Diana Ross, Donna Summers. And look at Berry White, that dog was the pied piper of love and he respected women and didn’t pee on young Black girls!
R. Child Kelly’s child molesting A*s is to real rhythm and blues, what that simpleton rapper who calls himself some thing like, half dollar, ten nickels, two quarters, Fiddy, or where ever the hell he calls himself is to hip hop. Both of them are ruining a tradition.
Hopefully in the next Dave Chappell racial draft R. Kelly will be traded for Eminem
And rappers( as opposed to hip hop artists) aint threaten sh*t, son, actually the white male power structure loves those minstrel shows, who don’t question the status que, those bling bling clowns, just as Sony records loves the fact that R Kelly is "controversial" as long as he aint pissing on the little girls of the power white male power structure,
Now excuse me while I go see how Kevin is beating up on Stroger today
R. Kelly has not gone to trial because the State of Illinois has no case. I know this sounds weird considering that there is video tape evidence. But what you have to remember is the Sixth Amendment of the US Constitution guarantees you the right to face your accuser in court. In this case the State has accused R. Kelly on behalf of a girl they believe was a minor at the time the video was made. However, neither this girl nor her parents have cooperated with State or local authorities. Without the help of the alleged victim, the State has to prove four things beyond a resonable doubt: 1) R. Kelly is indeed the man shown in the video, 2) the alleged victim is person the State says she is, 3) the approximate date when the video was made, and 4) the alleged victim was under the age of consent when the video was made. The State has no case.
Thank you Big Mama!
Chicagoist has a funny way of totally confusing the issue.
Just because someones pees on someone else doesn't make them a dirtbag. The only thing wrong here is that the girl was (apparently) underage. And even that is up for grabs.
Seven o'clock in the morning
And the rays from the sun wakes me
I'm stretchin' and yawnin'
In a bed that don't belong to me
And a voice yells, "Good morning, darlin", from the bathroom
Then she comes out and kisses me
And to my surprise, she ain't you
Now I've got this dumb look on my face
Like, what have I done?
How could I be so stupid to be have laid here til the morning sun?
Must of lost the track of time
Oh, what was on my mind?
From the club, went to her home
Didn't plan to stay that long
Here I am, quickly tryin' to put on my clothes
Searching for my car keys
Tryin' to get on up out the door
Then she streched her hands in front of it
Said, "You can't go this way"
Looked at her, like she was crazy
Said, "Woman move out my way"
Said, "I got a wife at home"
She said, "Please don't go out there"
"Lady, I've got to get home"
She said, her husband was comin' up the stairs
"Shh, shh, quiet
Hurry up and get in the closet"
She said, "Don't you make a sound
Or some shit is going down"
I said, "Why don't I just go out the window?"
"Yes, except for one thing, we on the 5th floor"
"Shit,Think,Shit, think,Shit, quick, put me in the closet"
And now I'm in this dark ass closet, tryin' to figure out
Just how I'm gonna get my crazy ass up out this house
Then he walks in and yells, "I'm home"
She says, "Honey, I'm in the room"
He walks in there with a smile on his face
Sayin', "Honey, I've been missin' you"
She hops all over him
And says, "I've cooked and ran your bath water"
I'm tellin' you now, this girl's so good that she deserves an Oscar
Throws her in the bed
And start to snatchin' her clothes off
I'm in the closet, like man, what the fuck is going on?
You're not gonna believe it
But things get deeper as the story goes on
Next thing you know, a call comes through on my cell phone
I tried my best to quickly put it on vibrate
But from the way he act, I could tell it was too late
He hopped up and said, "There's a mystery going on
And I'm gonna solve it"
And I'm like, "God please, don't let this man open this closet"
He walks in the bathroom
And looks behind the door
She says, "Baby, come back to bed"
He says, "Bitch, say no more"
He pulls back the shower curtain
While she's biting her nails
Then he walks back to the room
Right now, I'm sweating like hell
Checks under the bed
Then under the dresser
He looks at the closet
I pull out my Baretta
He walks up to the closet
He comes up to the closet
Now he's at the closet
Now he's opening the closet...
Oh I’m sorry I just finished reading the R.Kelly Lyrics in Jenny's post above. My bad, clearly
R. Kelly is as right about not being guilty, as he is right in his comparisons of being a modern day Martin Luther King. His lyrics are actually very similar to King’s speech “Community or Chaos”. My hope is that like King, Kelly will get to demonstrate his love for humanity in a jail cell, but as Kelly has elevated himself to a higher level by comparing himself to not just King, but Mandela, Malcolm and Ali, I hope Kelly gets 24/7 conjugal visits from a big strong fat dude named Bubba who hates low life child molesters.
acityscape -
I also have information that he used to pick up underage girls at the high school! This was from a very credible colleague I met in a professional setting, so I believed her at the the time, but you saying that too really makes me wonder why the state's attorney can't get some kind of a case going here.