R. Kelly-Legend, Icon, Fallen star
7-8-22
In an amazing fall from grace that continues to unfold, superstar singer R. Kelly was sentenced to 30 years after being convicted of racketeering and sex trafficking in September 2021. The singer, who has been jailed since 2019, faces separate charges of child pornography and obstruction of justice in a federal case in Chicago, where a trial is set for August 1.
How hard was his fall? According to Wikipedia, as a recording artist, Kelly was credited with helping to redefine R&B and hip hop, earning nicknames such as "the King of R&B","the King of Pop-Soul" and the "Pied Piper of R&B". He is known for his extensive discography of hits spanning three decades. He has sold over 75 million records worldwide, which made him the most successful male R&B artist of the 1990s and one of the world's best-selling music artists. He won three Grammy Awards for "I Believe I Can Fly". He has written, produced, and remixed songs, singles, and albums for several highly succesfull artists, including a Grammy Award nominated song Michael Jackson's "You Are Not Alone".
But the fall of R. Kelly started from the very top, an dived straight down to the bottom. It was a slow, very public fall that was amplified by the documentary film "Surviving R. Kelly." In 2021, the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York tried Kelly in Brooklyn, New York, and won the first criminal conviction against Kelly for a sex offense. On September 27, 2021, the jury found Kelly guilty on a total of nine criminal counts including violations of the Mann Act and racketeering. Eleven witnesses testified about Kelly's pattern of sexual abuse and violence.
Charges included two men who alleged Kelly sexually abused them as children. The racketeering conviction encompasses a pattern of predicate crimes that included bribery, sexual exploitation of a child, and human trafficking. . Kelly continues to challenge his New York conviction. The indictment in this case alleges Kelly both produced child sexual abuse material and conspired with employees to corruptly win his 2008 acquittal. The trial is set for August 15.
Artist Profile: Slugg
As a Florida native Matteo Acosta, AKA Slugg emerged on the scene with his fresh mixing style powered by a heavy hip-hop influence. Slugg deftly samples various hip-hop tracks over repetitive percussion and flatted bass. Slugg has created his own way of combining two enormous genres flawlessly. Slugg releases music on multiple different popular house labels like House Keepers Records and Rawsome Recordings. He has also curated his record Label and event series, GetBusy.
Comments