Feature
R. KELLY: DOUBLE TALK
God help any crazy stalker with intentions to get to R Kelly; theyﾃ｢囘 have their work cut out.ﾃつ This man has more schedule changes than aﾃつlow-cost airline bound for Ibiza. ﾃ｢廬 do hate to do interviews,ﾃ｢ heﾃつ tells me later when we finally meet. No shit Kellz?
The first timeﾃつweﾃ｢决e supposed to convene, after several proposed dates have alreadyﾃつbeen postponed - Iﾃ｢冦 literally about to board the plane at Gatwickﾃつwhen the phone call comes - ﾃ｢廬tﾃ｢冱 off,ﾃ｢ Iﾃ｢冦 told. Both Kelly and I hadﾃつ been en-route to Las Vegas where he was to attend an internationalﾃつpress junket, host a playback of his new album ﾃ｢魯ouble Upﾃ｢ and performﾃつat a conference for his record label bosses. However, halfway betweenﾃつ his hometown of Chicago and Sin City, he heard about the VirginiaﾃつTech massacre and was compelled to turn the bus round so he could go backﾃつhome and write a song. The result, out this August, was ﾃ｢漏ise Upﾃ｢ aﾃつ typically schmaltzy key-changing R. Kelly affair, in the vein ofﾃつ ﾃ｢路eaven I Need a Hugﾃ｢ and ﾃ｢露 Believe I Can Flyﾃ｢: ﾃ｢弩e will cryﾃつ together, weﾃ｢冤l fight this together/ Weﾃ｢冤l be strong together, standﾃつtogether, pray together...ﾃ｢ And so on.
Anyway, after a couple more tries, I finally make it toﾃつChi-Town, the city where he was born, raised and continues to resideﾃつtoday. Iﾃ｢况e already been asked to submit my questions, none of which, of course,ﾃつmust mention his ongoing legal situation relating to the 14 counts ofﾃつchild pornography that he was first charged with back in 2002. I mustﾃつalso not ask about his wife (they separated after she accused him ofﾃつ domestic abuse), Jay-Z (well, we all know about that one), hisﾃつ brother Carey (he claims Robert offered him $50,000 and a recordﾃつ contract to take the fall for the sex tapes), Sparkle (she told an LAﾃつradio station that the girl in the tapes that featured the man thatﾃつ bears very close resemblance to R Kelly, is her niece) and finallyﾃつAaliyah - again, pretty self-explanatory given the whole underageﾃつmarriage thing. I did consider wearing my Aaliyah T-shirt to the interview,ﾃつbut thought better of it.
16 years in the game, and, as the album says, the R isﾃつready to ﾃ｢賄ouble upﾃ｢ again. ﾃ｢弋he title can mean a million things; youﾃつhave the basketball reference, the gambling connotation,ﾃ｢ he smilesﾃつbehind pitch-black shades. ﾃ｢廴y coach used to tell me, when youﾃ｢决e upﾃつ20, you need to play like youﾃ｢决e down 20. I told you I feel hungrier than Iﾃ｢况eﾃつever been, and it's true, so I feel itﾃ｢冱 time for me to do it all over again... let's do another 16 years. Iﾃ｢况e no plans to retire, Iﾃ｢冦 on top of my gameﾃつright now.ﾃ｢ Heﾃ｢冱 not exaggerating either. Two weeks after our meeting,ﾃつhis 14th solo album enters the American Billboards at No.1 and the UKﾃつcharts at number 10; he sells 400,000 in the US alone in one week. Givenﾃつthe current climate of the music industry, this is incrediblyﾃつimpressive. And, one of two duds aside, the album is indeed worth theﾃつmoney. There are club bangers, a couple of slowies and someﾃつfantastically odd tracks like ﾃ｢狼he Zoo ﾃ｢和nd ﾃ｢牢ex Planetﾃ｢: ﾃ｢廬 got youﾃつso wet, itﾃ｢冱 like a rain-forest/ Like Jurassic Park except Iﾃ｢冦 yaﾃつsexosaurus.ﾃ｢ he wails on ﾃ｢狼he Zooﾃ｢ with its ﾃ｢楼hh-ohh-ah-ah-ahﾃ｢凖つmonkey-mimicking chorus, while the latter makes Carry On-style references to ﾃ｢話lack holesﾃ｢ and ﾃ｢篭ranus.ﾃ｢ Is he, for want of a better phrase, taking the piss? ﾃ｢弸a know, I sometimes feel like people take what Iﾃつwrite a little too seriously, but I do think that I have a lot of humour in myﾃつ music,ﾃ｢ chuckles the 6ﾃ｢1 singer who really got back in the game afterﾃつreleasing the hilarious ﾃ｢狼rapped In The Closetﾃ｢ series last year. ﾃ｢廬ﾃつwant people to laugh, because itﾃ｢冱 like Iﾃ｢冦 a musical comedian onﾃつsome songs. Anybody that gets that, I can really appreciate, becauseﾃつit makes it fun. I believe thatﾃ｢冱 why people listen to, and love, R.ﾃつKellyﾃ｢冱 work, because there are a lot of goodies in the lyrics.ﾃ｢
Today though, heﾃ｢冱 more interested in discussing theﾃつsong ﾃ｢漏eal Talkﾃ｢. An invective-laden one-way conversation betweenﾃつKelly and a girlfriend, the track is particularly timely given theﾃつ ongoing argument between people like Oprah Winfrey and 50 Cent aboutﾃつthe appropriateness of artists using the ﾃ｢朗ﾃ｢, bitch and ho words. This is something Robert Sylvester Kelly feels strongly about. Inﾃつfact, he spends about a third of our 24-minute conversation tellingﾃつme just why he should be free to use whatever words he pleases.
ﾃ｢廸umber one, Iﾃ｢冦 a grown man. Itﾃ｢冱 a reality and thatﾃつreality is actually much worse than ﾃ｢漏eal Talkﾃ｢. We have got toﾃつrealise that this is the real world; there are no aliens down here.ﾃつWeﾃ｢决e all human; everybody, or most people, have had that argument, Iﾃつfeel. They didnﾃ｢冲 try to mute their words while they was arguing;ﾃつthey didnﾃ｢冲 put they hand over they mouth at the time they wanted toﾃつcurse. These things have gone on in cars, on phones, in drive-throughs and in movie theatres. Iﾃ｢况e experienced it, I know a lot ofﾃつ people that have too, even the ones that donﾃ｢冲 approve of it.ﾃ｢
The track features Kellyﾃ｢冱 jealous girlfriend accusing him ofﾃつcheating before threatening to leave him: ﾃ｢廝itch, I wish you wouldﾃつburn my motherfucking clothesﾃ｢ he shouts in the middle of the track.ﾃつBut is there need for such a large amount of profanity, Kellz? ﾃ｢廬ﾃつ didnﾃ｢冲 just go into the studio and say ﾃ｢露 know, today Iﾃ｢冤l write aﾃつ curse song; bitch, slut, bitch, n*gga, ho.ﾃ｢ I donﾃ｢冲 do that,ﾃ｢ heﾃつ argues. ﾃ｢廬 go in with a creative mind and spirit and I let creativityﾃつcome to me, I donﾃ｢冲 chase it. Iﾃ｢冦 a grown man and I realise in thisﾃつworld that words are exchanged, even when weﾃ｢决e not writing a song orﾃつmaking a movie.ﾃ｢
He seems particularly annoyed that films and videogamesﾃつdonﾃ｢冲 get given the same censorious treatment. And let's be real, itﾃつis always rappers and R&B singers (that's black artists) who seem to getﾃつthe stick, right? ﾃ｢廣bsolutely, I agree with that. Thatﾃ｢冱 real talk,ﾃつthatﾃ｢冱 the way it is," he offers animatedly. "If they can say it in movie theatres, and onﾃつtalk shows, why should I stop? You can have kids playing games whereﾃつtheyﾃ｢决e doing all types of stuff. Yet, Iﾃ｢冦 only expressing myself andﾃつmy freedom of speech in my own, creative way. Why is it such a no-no,ﾃ｢ he wonders rhetorically, warming to his subject now. ﾃ｢廴y situation is, or should be,ﾃつno different from the movies you see, I simply express life. I think if Iﾃつcanﾃ｢冲 use the word 'shit', nobody should be able to use the word 'shit'ﾃつ because Iﾃ｢冦 40 and Iﾃ｢冦 a grown man. I feel if that canﾃ｢冲 be used in aﾃつsong, then it canﾃ｢冲 be used in a movie 'cos the way I grew up, thatﾃ｢冱ﾃつ called unfair. And my mom taught me that, so if youﾃ｢决e trying toﾃつteach me different at 40, youﾃ｢决e disrespecting everything my mom hasﾃつtaught me from a kid on up, and Iﾃ｢冦 not gonna allow you to disrespectﾃつmy momma with all the hard work she put in on raising me.ﾃ｢
So, heﾃ｢冱 feeling good, right? "Honestly,ﾃ｢ he concludes. ﾃ｢廬 feel like Iﾃ｢冦 in a media minefield, so I just keep my butt in theﾃつ studio. Being in the studio is almost like taking a vacation for me. As my kids grow up, I want them to be proud of me. If I can be in theﾃつ game like Ron Isley here, then Iﾃ｢冦 good.ﾃ｢ And with that, R Kelly andﾃつ his mate Ron depart. Itﾃ｢冱 time to return to hit-making.
ﾃ｢魯ouble Upﾃ｢ is out now.
The single ﾃ｢漏ise Upﾃ｢ is out in August.
YOU CAN READ A FULL VERSION OF THIS INTERVIEW IN THE NEW ISSUE OF B&S (999)...
Words Hattie Collins
