Black History Month: "The Project" DAY 4 (583 hits)
Category: NoneLabels: BHM
Rating: 1.2 on 5 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by sicosemen (View user info) at 2006-02-06 07:14:44 EST
http://www.ubersite.com/m/83245 Day 1
http://www.ubersite.com/m/83307 Day 2
http://www.ubersite.com/m/83385 Day 3
We salute you R. Kelly.
Robert Sylvester Kelly (born January 8, 1967 in Chicago, Illinois), who goes by the stage name of R. Kelly, is a successful R&B singer-songwriter and record producer who came to dominate the R&B music scene throughout the 1990s and in the current decade. A very successful hitmaker, his hits include "Bump & Grind" (1994), "I Believe I Can Fly" (1996), "Ignition" (2003) and "Trapped in the Closet" (2005).
Biography
Early Life
Born into poverty and distress in Chicago's Southside projects, young Robert and his two brothers and sister and mother Joanne struggled to survive in the streets. After a shooting by a mugger as a teenager, Kelly looked to basketball and music to get him away from the atmosphere that had consumed so many young Black individuals in the projects. Guided by his teacher Lena McLin, Kelly entered a career in music after wowing his high school friends singing the classic Stevie Wonder ballad, "Ribbon in the Sky" at a talent show.
Early Career
By 1990, Kelly had started to develop his sound playing his keyboards and becoming a street performer. He released his first single "Why You Wanna Play Me" with the group MGM on Tavdash Records in 1990. His manager at the time, David Hyatt, introduced him to Wayne Williams at Jive Records. Sometime around 1991 he met Barry Hankerson. Hankerson became his full time manager after David Hyatt was arrested by the FBI and accused of spearheading a large Midwest drug ring. He was later convicted and sentenced to life in prison. In late 1991 R. Kelly was introduced to Aaliyah, and his then group Public Announcement recorded much of what would be Born Into the '90s at a recording studio Kelly leased. Within a few months, songs like "She's Got that Vibe", "Slow Dance", "Dedicated", and "Honey Love" would be the featured songs in Born Into the '90s, which was released several days after Kelly's 25th birthday in January 1992. A huge R&B success, the album would yield the featured songs as the hits and would eventually go platinum selling over a million copies.
The Trouble With Girls
The troubles following Kelly's alleged rapports with underage girls go as far back as 1991, when several young women had accused the singer of having sex with them. In 1994 and 1995, rumors surfaced that Kelly had married fellow singer, Aaliyah, which both Kelly and Aaliyah denied. However, none of the prior reports reached the level of publicity that followed the release of a video tape in February 2002 that allegedly showed Kelly and a 14-year-old daughter of an associate, and niece of a former Kelly protégé, engaging in sex. The tape, released by an unknown source, was sent to the Chicago Sun Times, the newspaper that broke the story. While witnesses have identified Kelly and the girl, the alleged girl herself and her parents have denied that she is the person shown on the tape. Bootleg copies of the tape became widely available on the black market and hence via file sharing networks. The tape showed numerous sex acts, including the girl being urinated on. In June 2002, Kelly was indicted in Chicago for seven counts of soliciting a minor for child pornography, seven counts of videotaping the acts, and seven counts of producing child pornography1. Currently, Kelly is now facing only 14 of the charges.
In addition to those charges, Kelly was further indicted in Florida in January 2003 on twelve counts of possession of child pornography. However, the charges were dropped after the search that led to the indictment was ruled illegal. In 2003, Dave Chappelle made a skit showing R. Kelly pouring his urine and "Doo-Doo Butter" on teenage girls. Despite the apparent parody nature, R. Kelly himself was said to have been rather offended by the sketch. In 2004, allegations emerged that among Kelly's tapes was one including gospel singer Deleon Richards, who is also the wife of New York Yankees baseball player Gary Sheffield.
During the pornography controversy, Kelly's problems with the opposite sex carried over into his family. His wife, Andrea, whom he married in 1996, sought a restraining order against him on September 2, 2005 claiming he physically and verbally attacked her on two occasions but rescinded her request on September 26. Andrea had been a backup dancer before they married and is the mother of his son and two daughters. 2
Thank you R. Kelly for giving us one hell of a story. Thank you for giving the black community a good name. If I really want to impress my boss I'll just piss on his daughter.
And what's a felon without a mugshot?
User Reviews
Submitted by zimm0r (user info) at 2007-04-03 07:10:56 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Fixing for the dummy below.
Submitted by shinebox (user info) at 2007-04-02 23:31:48 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
smash ya cunt
Submitted by Maddog (user info) at 2006-02-07 10:08:04 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Yet another reason to hate the negro. Keep it up
Submitted by MistressFist (user info) at 2006-02-06 13:05:39 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
he is quite the badass.
Submitted by indoninja (user info) at 2006-02-06 09:21:17 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
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