R. Kelly is without a doubt one of the most talented musicians of the past quarter century, writing and producing timeless hit records for some of music’s biggest stars and logging in countless classics of his own. His catalog puts many of his peers to shame. Though he has continued to put out new material, Kelly has not done much interviews as of late. He broke his silence for the first time recently when he allowed David Marchese of New York Magazine to join him in studio for an in-depth conversation.
In the early 2000s, R. Kelly was a hot topic in the media after he was indicted on 21 counts of creating child pornography. He was acquitted on all charges but the stigma surrounding the musician and a rumored infatuation with underage girls is something he has never been able to shake. With that said, after the allegations were made public, Kelly still went on to create chart topping hits (let’s not forget the Trapped In The Closet series).
Talking to Marchese, Kelly revealed that he created 462 songs in preparation for his soon to be released album The Buffet, “I have enough songs to put out six or seven albums a year if I wanted.” But the conversation did veer off into the questions that have been on everyones mind for over a decade. When asked about his sexual history, Kelly kept his response very vague. “I’m going to always have the gift along with the curse. I feel like I got a million people hating me, I’ve got maybe 8 million loving me. So I’ve got 9 million talking about me, and in a strange, magical way, it keeps me in the game.”
After a few failed attempts at getting Kelly to address this particular question, Marchese goes for the gusto and directly asks the 48-year-old whether or not he is attracted to underage girls. He denied it, but as only R. Kelly can do, he found a way to make the response a bit off-kilter and somewhat open to interpretation.
That’s a rumor that comes from the Earth, like all rumors. No, it’s not true. I love women, period. If I wasn’t a celebrity, people wouldn’t be saying these things about me.
Calling himself the Pied Piper of R&B didn’t help his case in the court of public opinion.
