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'You need to stop judging'
21/06/2002 10:23 - (SA)
Los Angeles - Grammy-winning singing star R Kelly, facing 21 counts of child pornography, blames his legal woes on being famous in a new song released exclusively this week to a hometown radio station.
The rhythm-and-blues singer arranged for his label, Jive Records, to deliver an advanced copy of the single Heaven, I Need a Hug, to WGCI-FM, a Chicago station that "has been very supportive of [Kelly] throughout his career," his Los Angeles-based publicist said on Thursday.
The track was first played on the air on Tuesday night and quickly became one of the station's most requested songs, WGCI president and general manager Marv Dyson told the Chicago Tribune.
"The audience loves the song," said Dyson, who has vowed to keep playing Kelly's music on the air until the R&B recording star has had his day in court.
In the song, Kelly laments that his current legal predicament stems from his celebrity.
According to lyrics published in the Los Angeles Times, he sings, It's all because I'm famous/You know what I'm sayin'/I mean if I wasn't famous/Then all this wouldn't be happening/I'm just being real. He also sings, church folks, you need to stop judging and he urges women to stop depending on us men/start depending on the man above.
Kelly, whose first name is Robert, was indicted in Chicago last Wednesday on 21 felony counts of child pornography. The charges stem from a 26-minute videotape that allegedly shows him engaging in sex acts with a teenaged minor. If convicted, he could face up to 15 years in prison.
The 35-year-old singer has denied he is the man on the tape, while his lawyer has said the girl on the video is not under age.
Kelly spent the night in jail following his arrest outside his rented home in central Florida, then turned himself in to authorities in Chicago, where he was booked and released on $75 000 bond.
Kelly, who has previously settled at least two lawsuits alleging sex with underage girls, is known for the explicit carnality of his music, with song titles such as Sex Me, Your Body's Callin' and Bump n' Grind. He won multiple Grammy Awards in 1997 for the hit song I Believe I Can Fly, from the movie Space Jam.
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South Africa
