But R Kelly will forever remain our hero.” Oscar Kasyima, a diehard R Kelly lover, says: “It is rather unfortunate for such an icon to be found guilty of such offences. Clearly, if the court ruling is anything to go by, this guy was a smart manipulator, whose flip side, the evil end, is now being revealed,” says the prolific instrumentalist and vocalist. Sometimes it’s hard to draw the line between who is inspired by God or not. “Songs like Storm is Over (2000), I Believe I can Fly (1995) and I Wish have largely been believed to be contemporary gospel, just as Sauti Sol’s Kuliko Jana and H_Art the Band’s El Shaddai. He says R Kelly’s gospel music used to inspire the youth who would sing the songs during church service and weekend fellowships. Matthew Makanga, who is now a pastor and Prison’s choir band trainer, recalls the late 1990s when he was a Christian Union leader in Athi River AIC Secondary School. It is unfortunate that people are coming to see a part of him they never did back then, says DJ Nijo. Locally, R Kelly has been a household name among thousands of fans who love his music. He is a good songwriter, music director and performer who will go down history books as having influenced R&B for over two decades. His big hits, among them I Believe I Can Fly (2001), Same Girl - Double Up with Usher (2007), I Wish - To The Homies That We Lost - (2000), The World’s Greatest (2001), Step in the Name of Love, U saved Me - Happy People (2004), and Bump n’ Grind 1993, he says, made every deejay’s playlist. It was the gangster look most school girls liked to see their boyfriends wearing,” says veteran deejay DJ Space.Īnother veteran deejay, Nijjo, recalls how the early 2000s club and pop lifestyle was highly influenced by R Kelly’s music and lifestyle. As much as we had other big stars as Sean Combs, Toni Braxton and Aaliyah herself in what defined that age of R&B, R Kelly’s music seemed to have a special allure that made him the darling of music lovers especially those who wanted to be associated with that street cool image. “Everything club music seemed inspired by R Kelly back then. The urban street version then was his sagging jeans, white and black R-Kelly T-shirts and the back flip snapbacks as well as his trademark ‘bad-boy’ bandanna. In 1993, when his Bump n’ Grind hit off the 12 Play album hit, the airwaves becoming the biggest R&B song that year, youngsters across Kenya hit the streets in baggy T-shirts branded with R Kelly merchandise. Locally, R Kelly’s music ruled radio stations and club deejays playlist as his cool urban lifestyle influenced pop culture complete with the way the youth dressed and presented themselves. The verdict of a case that has been in the corridors of justice for years is a stunning and historical fall, a shame of a man who influenced the entertainment scene worldwide, being one of the biggest R&B names the world ever saw. BBC writes that the jury found that R Kelly was the ring leader of a violent and coercive scheme that lured women and children for him to sexually abuse.Īlong with eight counts of sex trafficking, the singer was found guilty of racketeering - a charge normally used against organised crime associations, wrote BBC. Testimony had it that R Kelly inflicted mental torment on his victims and denied them basic rights, among them eating and also visiting the bathroom without his permission.
#R kelly double up 22 tracklist deluxe edition trial
According to BBC, 11 accusers - nine women and two men - took the stand over the searing six-week trial to describe sexual humiliation and violence at his hands.Īfter two days of deliberation, the jury found Kelly guilty on all the charges.