I originally had a clever quip for the opening of this. But then again this was originally going to be an article about R. Kelly’s new album ‘Black Panties’. That quip was going to be something about how R. Kelly puts the “R” in subtlety, and blah, blah, blah, so clever right? See it’s funny because it’s beyond obvious that subtlety isn’t remotely close to being spelled with an “R”. It’s one of many forms of humor. Something so absurdly veering on wrong that it must be a joke. I only dissect this minor, barely humorous opening, because it kind of embodies what I thought I enjoyed about R. Kelly. I thought his objectification of pretty much everything in the world and making all things about sex was so absurdly unreal that I assumed that he and everyone else was surely in on the joke. Because he was joking right? Surely not all things can be sexualized, more importantly not all girls.
Be it busyness or sheer luck I delayed writing that review, and instead am here now hoping to rewrite, or undo something that wasn’t yet written or done. But if you’ll entertain me I’d like to take the opportunity to rewrite that quip, because see R. Kelly actually does put the “R” in rape. By now everyone’s seen, or I hope everyone has seen the telling interview conducted in the Village Voice with Jim DeRogatis, by Jessica Hopper (if you haven’t read it, you can read it here: http://blogs.
At first I thought it would be best to just table the review. Subtlety remove him from my playlists, and just not actively listen to him anymore. Essentially ignore him. But ignoring is meant for an annoying kid. Not for someone who has so aggressively spat in the face of the idea of respecting women. There will probably be many reactionary pieces to the article, one of which already exists by one of my favorite people to read who I’d be remiss to not mention in this article at least once, as his before and after opinions of R. Kelly echo mine. Grantland’s own (also one of my favorite sites) Rembert Brown shares his views on the subject matter similarly (http://www.grantland.com/
Being a person who once touted the “greatness” of R. Kelly and not only made a legit argument for why ‘Ignition (Remix)’ was possibly the greatest song in the past 20 years, but also made it my go to song for karaoke, I now feel it necessary to actively take it all back. After reading that piece the sad truth is I wasn’t in on the joke, because there was no joke. R. Kelly hasn’t been kidding. He hasn’t been speaking, or singing with tongue in cheek. He’s been dreadfully honest. For a point of comparison as a big Eminem fan I can laugh with Eminem at his obviously misogynistic lyrics, because I’m pretty sure he’s aware of their misogynistic-ness. Hell even in his most recent album he questions his own contradictory, as he would’ve never let his own daughters listen to those same lyrics or let anyone speak to them in that fashion. Of course this doesn’t make his lyrics right, and I completely understand any argument against them, but this at least let’s me know he’s aware.
Well R. Kelly isn’t aware. He’s the opposite of aware. Matter fact he actually believe’s he’s doing a good service to the world (he claims in his new album that every kid born since the 90′s is all thanks to him, which again struck me as so absurd it’s hilarious, but I realize now he was probably being sincere). After all he is a god fearing man who just honestly had trouble understanding the definition of what teenager means. For me, refusing to listen to Chris Brown songs isn’t for show, I don’t hope for a successful WNBA, because I want more basketball in my life, and I definitely don’t passionately argue, and discuss the real ways in which women will and should gain true equality and protection from a society that has for so long neglected them for any of my own personal gain. No, I care about these things for my possible future daughter (well for all women, but definitely for any future daughters to walk the earth). I don’t know if I’ll have one, but I know that if I do I hope she will exist in a world much better suited for her than the one we have now. One that needs a lot of changes. One of which would be to stop allowing men like R. Kelly to get away with their transgressions. We as a whole turn our cheeks all too often, as a simple google search will show a multitude of sexually assaulted teenage girls and their cases being ignored. So rather than table my review, and just not listen to R. Kelly anymore, I thought a good start would be to shine some light on the situation and hopefully undo some of the undeserved promotion I’d given the man over the years. I often debate with my friends about the fact that I think they should take a month and promote women’s rights and to speak out against the mistreatment of women within America and across the globe much in the way the NFL has taken on breast cancer or how the WWE has taken up preventing bullying (I know this already exists but not on the magnitude of either of those campaigns). Maybe a few candid moments from athletes that these young men look up to could send a strong message to them and possibly counter all the other messages their receiving to the total opposite effect. But until that promotion against such grievances does happen we can at least stop promoting those men who add to them. And we can definitely stop listening to R. Kelly.
About Matt Cargile
Matt Cargile is the Editor in Chief of rookerville.com. He also works in finance, but refuses to read any news printed on pink paper. He is a child at heart with adult means. His childhood dream was to either become a magician or the leader of the next great empire and somehow both these things make complete sense. He's contradictory in nature, but is always consistent.
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