Deeper Into R Kelly · Wednesday February 14, 2007
I’m proud to welcome guest blogger Liam Butler to the Hearth for his exploration of R Kelly’s incredible and hilarious music videos. Liam lives in Vancouver, BC, plays in the band Yukon, and watches oodles of R Kelly on YouTube. Check it out:
“It goes without saying that I’m leaving out all the “Trapped in the Closet” episodes. We’ve all seen the dvd and we all know how insane they are.
Step in the Name of Love
From his ultra positive “steppers” phase, Step in the Name of Love. I love this video and song. What’s better than a classy and wholesome party on a yacht with R Kelly skulking around the outside, singing with his back arched about the joy of dancing and celebrating love and good times? I’m not really going to comment on the weird implications with mainstream R’n‘B and hiphop and “white parties” where the party goers can only wear white.
Please stick with this one until the end because that’s where my favourite part is. When I first saw it I laughed for 5 minutes. it is the perfect visual embodyment of the insanity of R Kelly.
“It’s the pied piper of R’n‘B”
A Woman’s Threat
I don’t really know what to make of this one. First it’s like we’re zooming into Kells’ old time dungeon looking room, then the camera zooms into his scotch and we’re in some kind of futuristic training ground. He sings into a future microphone, the camera spins and zooms out back intro his dungeon crib, only to do another spin-zoom into a glass piano. Some alternate version of himself appears in shots with a strobe light on saying “This is a warning” in a weird voice. Oh look, he’s back in the sci training ground, but this time he’s floating in the air playing a see through piano.
My favourite part is when he says “My future my hopes my dreams, my pennies, my socks my things” but it sounds like he is saying “panties” instead of “pennies.” Another amazing part is the part about porridge.
All in all, I think that this is a really ambitious video, especially for R’n‘B which is very saturated with typical play by numbers videos. He’s really trying to pack a lot of weird theory into this short video, and I could probably go pretty deep into this if I didn’t think that maybe that would ruin it for me.
This is from the criminally overlooked TP-2 album which contains probably my favourite R Kelly song “Feelin’ On Your Booty” but I will get to that one later.
Ignition (Remix)
I’m really into the idea that, even when he does try to make a simple by the numbers R’n‘B video, small weird things creep in. For example, why is he wearing sweatbands on his hands? Why is there a shoot of his head rotating against a black backdrop put into the video? I don’t know the answers to these questions. This also continues R Kelly’s habit of making the “remix” of a song the single. But R Kelly’s conception of remix isn’t really consistent with what remixes actually are. In reality, they’re completely different songs that sort of (sometimes) relate to the theme of the original. Step in the name of love is actually a “remix” too. His misconceptions about remixes remind me of how he is also completely not aware of the definitions of most basic literary conventions (see the commentary for Trapped in the Closet).
When the whole peeing on a 14 year old girl thing came to light, I remember this being the video that the news programs would play in the background when describing what the charges against him were.
I Believe I Can Fly
So, ok, I Believe I Can Fly. The most intense wave of 90s radio that will forever be stuck in my mind. Z95 top 10 at 10.
I don’t really like most of R Kelly’s inspirational songs. Not just because the sex jams and the steppers song are way more fun, but because generally the inspirational songs have really bland beats with phoned in string sections.
But obviously one has to make an exception for this song, especially because the music video is so funny. Here we have this super serious song about rising above the problems and reaching your goals. R Kelly is sitting in a corn field emoting to the sky. A little kid in overalls is playing with a ball. A string section is doing their thing in low light. Then there are projected images of MICHAEL JORDAN WITH BUGS BUNNY PLAYING BASKETBALL AGAINST ANIMATED MONSTERS.
Oh, R Kelly is conducting the choir while standing in the middle of a basketball court with the Space Jam logo in the center circle. His conducting style mainly consists of acting out flying, soaring, and running with his hands and giving the thumbs up to the choir.
I’m leaving out all of his older stuff, because I’m less familiar with it and it’s not as readily available on youtube.
Feelin’ On Yo Booty
So I guess this club that R Kelly goes to only plays his songs since when his friend calls, they’re playing Fiesta and when he gets to the club he’s singing Feelin’ On Your Booty. I really like the cameo parts by Method Man, Redman, Lennon Lewis and Fat Joe. Also, how his red outfit looks really fucking creepy. Also also, how his hair is only half in corn rows for much of it.
The best part of the song is obviously in the last 40 seconds when his crazy mind shines through and he keeps repeating “Boooooty” in a bunch of weird ways. You can even see the crazy in his eyes when he does the little fist pump in the hot tub at the end and looks to the camera. See that look? That’s the crazy.
You Remind Me of Something
This video is pretty unremarkable, but the song is definitely has the most stupid hook. You remind me of my Jeep??? How did he park his cars inside the boxing ring??
Happy People
Basically the exact same message/video as the Step in the Name of Love video. It’s also great and catchy in the same way. This time instead of a yacht we have a ballroom. It’s fun times all around.
The best part is when he’s doing the stepping instructions and the little kids are dancing with their grandma and that kid is stepping with the barber and the loving couple is stepping all sexy like.
But really, R Kelly has so many music videos. This doesn’t really even scratch the surface.”
Thanks for your shrewd insight, Liam!
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