Music News Today - Vol. 3

Oh the troubled lives of today's R&B glitterati. What is it about some stars that makes it hard for you to feel sorry for them? Case in point, R. Kelly and Mariah Carey. I'll put in my two cents on Mariah later but first....

R. "It wasn't me on the Vid-jo" Kelly

Now how do I say this without sounding judgemental? Nevermind, R. Kelly has issues! Finally, after more than three months of silence, R. Kelly appeared on BET Tonight with Ed Gordon. Anti-climatic doesn't begin to describe his interview. Yet, surely no one expected him to break down in tears and admit he had sinned a la Jim Baker - did we? I certainly didn't.

Kelly's interview was full of the usual, "please understand that I've messed up in a big way but can't openly admit it" type of sound bites.

Take for example this one, "I've done a lot of wrong things in my life, but I'm not a criminal, I'm not a monster."

Now what wrong things might those be R.? Would one of them be marrying a then 14-year old Aaliyah - a protegee who most likely looked to Kelly as a musical mentor, but instead was sweet talked into doing something impulsive and stupid?

See - I don't know if its Kelly in the infamous video or not, and at this point its immaterial. What I do believe is that he has a problem.

He admits as much when he says "I feel that I need help for that, I'm getting help for that ... I've done a lot of things in my life right now that I'm trying to get help for."

Though never saying what he was getting help for -I don't think it takes much to put it all together. We can't ignore what this is building to, he may very well be a pedophile.

But just for a second - let's push aside those things we're not certain of, primarily whether or not Kelly is actually the man in the video and if it is him, whether or not he knew the young lady he was with was underage. Blink those away for a second.

What we do know is - Kelly did indeed marry a very underaged Aaliyah nearly 7 years ago. Having recruited her from the school of arts, which she was attending at the time - he knew very well she was underaged.

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