Disilgold Soul Magazine Debate over R.Kelly, Keyshia Cole, J. Holiday & Ne-Yo concert situation. Founder discusses who’s wrong!

Let’s go way back! Who is R. Kelly? The R. stands for Robert. He was part of a group called MGM that debuted on the Natalie Cole Show. The group dressed with parachute pants reminiscent of M. C. Hammer’s flamboyant style, but just a little bit more suave. They also, had sex appeal and became teenage heart throb sensations.

R. Kelly sported a fade like Bobby Brown and wore dark shades. His group won $100,000 grand and soon he went solo because he obviously had the most talent in the group. The song that put him on the map was “Bump & Grind.” Today’s artist is called ” total package talent” when they can write lyrics, produce, mix, arrange,  play instruments and arrange their own music. Very few artists can master this craft other than old school artists like  Patrice Rushen for you old heads, Prince and modern day artists like Alicia Keys. There are more, but these are the one’s you really know and I felt like paying homage. 

R. Kelly is considered a phenomenon and has upgraded to that of a musical genius due to the success of his back-to back -albums and latest “Trapped in the Closet” DVD series. He crossed over big time with this creation  which seemed like a book in motion on Dvd. 

All was going well for R. Kelly. His song, “I Believe I  Can Fly,” was one of the most influential inspirational ballads utilized by schools, events and organizations as a theme song. It marveled the song, “We are the World.” He added a real live gospel choir and won over an array of fans. This cross section of fans from R& B, soul, Christain and Hip Hop won over millions in album sales. R. Kelly had arrived.

 His song ” I Wish” became a national urban anthem. People really liked R. Kelly whose work became a staple as modern music you can count on people to play over and over for many years to come. R. Kelly is bad.

He began to sign talent to his label and cultivate a soundwave that became his signature. One of his proteges’ was the young Aliyah who seemed to hide behind his wings and the group Changing Faces. He also, helped produce “Sparkle”.  Sparkle and R. Kelly fell out, Changing Faces who had transferred labels to Big Beat Records over at Zomba disappeared, but everyone remembers their 2 staple hits, “Foolin’ Around” and “Stroke you Up!” Other girl groups would steal their shine very quickly with more than vocals, but dance talent and overall more personality like TLC and Destiny’s Child. Aaliyah was sort of protected for her young underage romance with R. Kelly, but this was never documented or confirmed. She tragically died in an airplane crash years later and her relationship with R. Kelly remained a mystery.  Why? This situation would have put R. Kelly in the category of pedaphile.

Perhaps, R. Kelly did not know his age , and his warped sense of time kept him attracted to young girls as opposed to women his age. R. Kelly is not the only man in America or star who has fallen in love with a minor or someone in the same industry. Some have even waited for their partners to mature to officially marry. Today, any man having relations with a minor is a criminal. In the past, age was not an issue until it was clearly understood that young women do not have the mental capacity to make decisions about sex  until they are of legal age. This debate is still an issue. Many women today will admit they had a relationship with an older man when they  underage and have never reported their ex-lovers, but that is another issue. Let’s move on.

R. Kelly went on to tour with Jay Z, but an altercation while performing lead him to walk off the show. Soon, a relative of  someone’s Uncle was spotted in a video tape with a grown man and this underage girl in a sexual act. The man bore a striking similarity to R. Kelly according the news when the issue was blasted all over the world. How the tapes wound up on the streets is a mystery, but charges were soon brought up against R. Kelly for  sexual relations with a minor. Rumors circulated that the women knew R. Kelly and willingly consented to sex, were never forced and presented themselves as if they were much older creating debate in the African American community over whether men should ask women regardless of their age for ID.

Regardless, the African American community seemed to forgive R. Kelly who portrayed himself as the victim and claimed he was not the man in the footage. Those who felt otherwise were soon brought on charges because technically no one should be watching sexual tapes with minors or pornography, but law officials on the case. Soon, folks got quiet and R. Kelly was back to performing.

Some folks will say the accusations against R. Kelly are a crime and unacceptable by the African American community, and especially if R. Kelly knew that the young girl was a minor.

This is why he is on trial. Unfortunately, the D.A. of the case has conveniently postponed his trial to have a baby while R. Kelly performs on tour with J. Holiday, Keyshia Cole, and Ne-yo. Recently, Keyshia Cole was reported as being unagreeable with the show line up. She decided she would not perform when she found out she was slated as an opening act, but resolved the issue obviously after Ne-yo was kicked off the tour.

Opening for any show is considered degrading for top artists who are booked as equal billing with all artists performing. She paid her dues, has accrued more record sales than most R&B female acts to date and her work falls in line with the prestige of Alicia Keys and Mary J Blige although her current album did not receive a favorable review from Disilgold Soul Magazine, and not because it’ s not a well recorded album with great lyrics, but we know Keyshia Coles has greater potential. That’s all. 

She is still hit potential for many more albums to come and is steadily cleaning up her image. She certainly should not have been slated as an eye candy opener. J. Holiday is a brand new artist with clearly one solid hit called BED that is not going anywhere and may be one of those singles folks will be listening to forever. He clearly should have been the opening act although folks have been buzzing that he has outstanding stage presence and is more like your singer who has been around for some time which is undoubtedly true, but respect is due in due order.

Next, should have been Keyshia Cole and just like her new song, “Shouldn’t Have Let You Go!” Than R. Kelly should have come out to get first screams and cheers as the heavily anticipated man of the hour we all love. R. Kelly has so many solid hits, he is gold.  Then R. Kelly could have passed on the baton to Ne-yo to showcase his string of hits and of course, R. Kelly would return for the encore and just bring the house down. Let’s just be realistic with what the audience is. It is perfectly okay to have an audience cheer for the newcomers more than the the King of R& B. There is something sentimental about letting your younger comrads shine and still be able to stand on your own. There is only one R. Kelly, one Ne-yo, one Keyshia Cole and one J. Holiday. Can’t we all get along?

 The situation between all campers got out of control because of simple egos which all of these stars have the right to own, but the bottom line is the tour is sponsored by R. Kelly. You got to have respect for the crooner. This is an opportunity of a life time. I don’t care how many award shows and events you attend, albums you put out and hits. There is nothing like performing for your fans on tour nationwide and if you’re lucky, worldwide. This opportunity comes few and far in between. Early problems with shows labels you a trouble maker and trust, all artists are replaceable. There is always a new crooner to surface that you never saw arriving.

 If R. Kelly booked you for a show, send the man some flowers, a token of appreciation, do some interviews paying homage to the man and certainly don’t engage in any negative interviews. Someone like me quickly falls out of love with petty artists and I don’t care how good they are. I have personally spoken to Ne-yo face-to-face and shared kudos on his image, music and style, but he is way tooooooo mouthy for me. Let’s come back down to earth and certainly don’t agree with interviewers that R. Kelly is jealous because you brought the house down. BE REAL! Of course young girls are going to scream because they are stupid and that’s what young girls do. I was there. I use to scream at all of the acts and then when I got a little older and attended future  concerts I was as calm as dead sitting right next to Sean “Diddy” Combs at a Janet Jackson concert. And trust, Diddy is someone you want to scream at. The man has style and is just bad! Age on a woman makes a big difference with screaming fans. R. Kelly has older fans. They are not going to scream at him, they are going to grind and groove to his music like folks use to do back in the day with the Temptations and all of those male groups like we all saw in that movie “The 5 Heartbeats!” Grown folks don’t scream like kids at concerts. Get it? but trust, folks are there to see R. Kelly and for those handful who just bought tickets exclusively for Ne-yo, will they rebuy those same tickets if Ne-yo headlines a tour on his own and no acts. Just a thought.

One thing about R. Kelly is that he never was that side whistling type. It’s all about his art. There is nothing worse than a mouthy singer. Be discreet. If you all had issues keep it to your self. Pitch a book deal or something and certainly don’t get on air and lie or bend the truth. Everyone is at fault with this situation from 1. the insurance issue which if you decline to perform without it than you just decline to perform without it to 2.  thinking you are going to be a no show in some states because of low music scans so you don’t want to risk getting booed. It happens to all artists. Be willing to face the good, the bad and the ugly, plus all your demons. Be honest. 3. having clashes with technical issues without seeing the bigger issue. R. Kelly is not about to get in any trouble with anyone’s entourage, be side bamboozled, set up, tempted or risk confrontation with any hot headed entourage folks trying to cop a lawsuit with lies like what happened before to R. Kelly. Understand you are going to be kept away or apart from one another for your own safety. This works out for the best and there is nothing wrong with dressing in one’s trailer. This eliminates any lies and accusations or even papparazi mishaps. This is business. All kind of stuff happens when folks are mixed on the set from people stealing your jewelry, spreading false rumors in collaboration with like folks with vested underhanded interest and disrespect toward artists who have it going on, so folks want to bring them down with their look, eyeball treatment and you name it.

You’d be surprised to know how unsavory some folks camp look to other artists. Who wants to deal with that kind of stress while performing. You could go out on stage and be burned by steam from a smoke machine, trampled by the crowd, fall on stage or overeact toward an overzelous fan and toss them back in the audience. It happens to the best of us when folks feel threatened.  You don’t know who to trust once things start going haywire and so you become defensive and it’s about survival until the tour is over.

Now I listened to 2 sets of interviews today. One with Tigger and Ne-yo and one with Ne-yo and  Wendy Williams whose personal feelings against R. Kelly made me wonder if  Ne-yo was telling the truth at all about the situation. After all, he’s afriend to the show, and for Wendy to shout down R. Kelly it must be because he isn’t a friend of the show.  Celebrities better be Wendy’s friend or she destroys you. If I were gullible I would return my ticket for a R. Kelly show, break his albums in pieces, return ones I can get my money back for and turn off the radio when I hear him, but come on… there are two sides of the story. I don’t think Wendy’s bullying is going to get R. Kelly on the show. And I think one of her phone callers is telling the truth about these new hot artists like Ne-yo and Keyshia demanding things like divas and dons, but got kicked to the side. I bet they hurt R. Kelly’s feelings. (GIGGLES).

It made me even more sympathetic toward to R. Kelly, but in all seriousness, I really don’t care who did what. This is all an embarassment and disgrace. J. Holiday didn’t deserve to be apart of this nonsense. For more articles visit www.Disilgold.com .

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