RKelly’s 25-year career has been defined by two constants: allegations of sexual misconduct involving underage women and a succession of hits that helped insulate the R&B superstar from the legal repercussions of these claims.
Rumors about Kelly have swirled since the Chicago native swaggered onto the R&B charts with the release of his 1993 debut solo LP 12 Play. The title was a wink to the carnal braggadocio that would come to define much of Kelly’s output, with the title implying that while other men offered foreplay, Kelly’s sexual prowess was three times as potent. It would in retrospect be a foreboding declaration.
The title of Kelly’s next collaboration was similarly suggestive, if more problematic. Age Ain’t Nothing But a Number, the 1994 debut from R&B singer Aaliyah, was co-produced by Kelly and named after a track he had written for her. Kelly was 27 at the time. Aaliyah was 15. In a 1994 interview she called him her “best friend in the whole wide world”, and in August year they were married at a Chicago suburb Sheraton with a forged marriage certificate falsely stating Aaliyah was 18. Divorce proceedings began two days later when her family learned of the wedding. The marriage was annulled by fall. Aaliyah received $100 from Kelly as part of a settlement also stating she would not pursue legal action and neither would publicly discuss the matter (Kelly has long denied the pair had a sexual relationship). Age Ain’t Nothing’ But a Number went platinum, and Aaliyah was killed in a plane crash eight years later.
While the singer was Kelly’s most famous target, their relationship demonstrated a template repeated with scores of underage women, some allegedly as young as 14 and almost all of them black. Lawsuits and stories define Kelly as controlling and physically, emotionally, mentally and sexually abusive. Myriad women say he lured them with talk of boosting their singing careers before manipulating them into obedience and servitude (Kelly “unequivocally” denied the allegations, claiming to be “alarmed and disturbed” by their existence). Critics allege that society’s entrenched bias against black women and its subsequent failure to protect this demographic has allowed Kelly to maintain his star power, while high-powered men like Harvey Weinstein, Matt Lauer and Louis CK have seen their careers swiftly crumble in the face of the #MeToo and Time’s Up movements.
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