Born Robert Sylvester
Kelly, is a singer, songwriter, producer, and even a former semi-professional basketball
player popularly known as R. Kelly. He has come out with 17 albums so far in his ongoing career. His written
an autobiography and even wrote his own “hip-hopera” Trapped in a Closet. Now aside from releasing timeless hits: “Bump
n’ Grind”, “Ignition (Remix)”, “I Believe I Can Fly”, or “I’m a Flirt” I
believe one of R. Kelly’s greatest gift to this planet is Trapped in the Closet. Now if you are a human being who has never
experienced watching it on MTV or BET when it came out almost ten years ago, then I am greatly saddened. It is revolutionary in the way that R. Kelly literally
does everything in Trapped in the Closet. If you have never seen it, no word is spoken. All the dialogue
is sung by R. Kelly. The plot revolves around R. Kelly going through an insanely
dramatic and outrageously ludicrous life.
Now,
R. Kelly has won multiple Grammy awards, BET awards, Billboard awards, and NAACP
awards, but the most astounding thing about his success is he is barely literate.
He says “The only
reason I graduated from grammar school is because I had a great jump shot.” R.
Kelly gave his notebook to GQ and on the inside were mainly doodles. He says he is a
victim of a beautiful disease, where even before he can finish one song, another
one is knocking in his head. R. Kelly's production process starts with an album title then he will go
into a studio with a song name and mainly improvise the lyrics of his songs. R.
Kelly explains,
Going in
the studio, I say okay I'm gonna do a Black Panties album. So I gotta have some
nice titles to play with. What would excite the people the most, or get the
people talking, like 'Man, have you heard that song "Marry the
Pussy?"' Now that I got those titles, all I got to do is put the lyrics to
it and the melody to it and the beat to it. And once that's done and everything
marries each other, I feel like it's completed. (Rolling Stones Interview)
R. Kelly is completely dedicated to his work. After having
vocal cord surgery to remove an abscess, Kelly was told he should not sing for
at least four weeks. However, immediately after being discharged from the hospital,
he went straight to the studio and began singing and working on his next piece.
I simply cannot cover the breadth of work R. Kelly has done in his career but if you want to see him at his best the watch his Trapped in the Closet
“hip-hopera.” If you have not graced yourself by viewing it, then you must! I
cannot describe the hilarity, the constant plot twists, or the plain desire of
wanting more Trapped in the Closet has
left me.
Lastly,
I know R. Kelly has had numerous sexual assault and child pornography cases
brought against him. In no way, am I supporting or condoning his actions. However, creatively speaking he is quite intriguing.
Sources:
It was interesting to read about R. Kelly, I actually have never seen the show but reading about it in the blog makes me want to go watch it.
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