99% of the time, being accused of child pornography and urinating on a minor would be a bad career move.
The other 1% of the time, your name is R. Kelly.
As everyone knows, Kels is currently facing 14 charges of child pornography. His trial has been postponed time and time again; It has now been 5 years since these charges were originally filed and R. Kelly is still awaiting his day in court.
Child pornography is a serious charge. No one would argue that. But in the past 5 years, while awaiting trial, R. Kelly's career has been going better than ever. His popularity could very well be at its peak right now, thanks to his latest album Double Up and his ever-continuing Trapped in the Closet series.
MTV just did an in-depth report that tried to determine why Kels' popularity continued to stay strong despite these atrocious charges. There seems to be two basic arguments, illustrated in quotes from R&B singer Chris Brown and Billboard senior chart manager Raphael George.
George says:
People are just like, 'Eh.' He seems no different than any other celebrity who's gotten caught up in some kind of scandal.
Brown says:
I think people put away the personal life and what they see is the entertainer. So I differentiate between the two.
I agree with both ideas to a certain point, but I think there may be greater forces at work here. I'll also take it a step further than MTV, and say that these charges have actually helped R. Kelly's career. Here's my twisted logic:
R. Kelly was a pretty well-known R&B singer back in the day, but his popularity only extended so far. In the suburbs, we really only knew him as the guy who sang "Bump & Grind," the song from Space Jam, and a couple other tunes. But then, Kels recorded a song called "Ignition (Remix)" pretty shortly after getting involved in a controversy for allegedly pissing on a 14-year old.
This is where Dave Chappelle comes in. Chappelle taped a little comedy sketch called "Piss On You," in which he parodied R. Kelly's aforementioned "Ignition (Remix)." You may have seen this sketch a couple (million) times, back when "The Chappelle Show" became a cultural phenomenon.
This did two things. First, it raised R. Kelly's profile to the point where everyone started paying attention. And once we started paying attention, Kels delivered the best work of his career. This isn't the way he wanted to get his name out there, but regardless, he took advantage of the opportunity. Double Up is a great album, regardless of whether Kels pissed on a 14-year old or not.
Also, it changed the whole context in which we view R. Kelly. Shortly after "Piss On You" became a huge hit, Kels released the unbelievably funny Trapped in the Closet series, and then he went on to record the Double Up album, a comedic masterpiece. In just a few years, he went from a troublesome child-pisser with a few hits to one of the most hilarious public figures around. Now, everything he does is hilarious. Pissing on a 14-year old? That's funny. Child pornography charges? Absolutely hilarious. If he were to commit a bank robbery tomorrow? You can bet it would be the funniest bank robbery of all-time.
Is it wrong that so many people look at R. Kelly in this way? Maybe. Is it terrible that some people now make light of a serious charge? Probably. But good entertainers get away with some crazy shit. That's just the way it is.
Also, R. Kelly ain't got time to be ID'ing every girl he takes home, and that chick shouldn't have been in the club in the first place.
