R. Kelly Catches A Break

By Scott Smith in Arts & Entertainment on May 17, 2005 2:49PM

Punk rock manager and band wrangler Danny Fields once said “when the music moves from the music section to the front page of the newspaper, you’re in trouble.” By that measure, R. Kelly’s been in trouble for a while. But there was good news for him in both sections of the papers this week.

Jay-Z’s counterclaims against R. Kelly in the wake of the failed Best of Both Worlds tour were dismissed by a Manhattan judge on Monday. Hova’s claims stemmed from R. Kelly’s “damaging misconduct” on the tour that led to Kelly defrauding him by failing to put on a good show and also interfering with his contract with the tour promoter.

State Supreme Court Justice Charles Ramos noted that “failing to fulfill a promise to do something is not a breach of contract and a breach of contract cannot be turned into a fraud case.” Man, forget Law and Order: Criminal Intent. We need Law and Order: Civil Procedure and Contracts! This stuff is hot. Also, is the dismissal of this lawsuit as well as the 2003 dismissal of a lawsuit against Creed enough to put to rest the argument that an artist owes its fans a show of particular quality?

In other news, Kelly is moving forward with plans to shoot a “five-part mini drama” based on songs from his new album. The Pied Piper passed on shooting a video for “Sex In The Kitchen” in favor of beginning the multi-part epic with “Trapped In The Closet” (Part 1). Each part of the narrative will end with a cliffhanger that leads into the next song. The track list has yet to be finalized, but based on the above Chicagoist is expecting a concept album from R. with other titles like “Bonin’ In The Dumb Waiter”, “Tappin’ It On The Lanai” or “Doing Something Inappropriate In A Place Not Ideally Suited For Such Activities (Hence The Excitement).” The album, titled TP3: Reloaded, is due in July from Jive Records.

Image: Jive Records