R Kelly

I've always been a fan of R Kelly, he's got some pretty solid songs, plus he's from Chicago. He even wore a Sox hat in the Fiesta remix video, I think, another reason to be a fan.

So even when all the child porn accusations were coming out earlier this year, I tried to avoid judging him (see this written way back in June). And even though he got arrested this week for that stuff, the Ignition Remix is still being played the most on my mp3 player.

But one thing that has changed is that now I feel kind of uncomfortable listening to his songs. Like, I gotta wonder who's he singing this to, some 13 year old girl who has braces and a Pokemon lunchbox? That would really tone down my enthusiasm for his music, when you think about it like that.

It's kind of like listening to Erasure these days, after finding out that they are gay. Sure, they make good music, some of the best love songs ever made. But who were they written for? When he goes "touch me satisfy me, warm your body next to mine", I'd rather not be picturing a man. So I still listen to Erasure, I just have to block out homosexual thoughts.

Now when I listen to "Down Low" or "Bump N Grind", I have to block out thoughts of underage girls. It's pretty sick, you know, some of the kids I teach in Sunday School are like 11 or 12, not that much younger than 13 or 14. Even girls that are 18 or 19, legal, I would feel weird about being attracted to them.

And R Kelly is like 10-15 years older than me, what's the matter with him? Not to mention he could easily get plenty of 20-something girls with his status. I just don't get it.