Young Black Women Don't Matter as R. Kelly Plays On

Would you trust the guy that's smiling with your daughter?

The post below comes from the Richard Prince's Journal-isms site. The post details a story by Jessica Hopper of the Village Voice who examines Chicago music journalist Jim DeRogatis' original story that exposed the sexual assault accusation against singer R. Kelly.

One of the most coveted demos in media are young black women. They are a group of listeners and viewers that are very attractive to advertisers because of the buying decisions they make. However apparently their consumerism supersedes the media industry's moral sense. Radio and the media industry continues to promote R. Kelly as if his past doesn't exists. The interconnections between music labels and corporate media companies sets the landscape where executives make decisions to increase the bottom line.

Radio programmers must follow along because their bosses are in reality a corporate arm of some label once removed. So what is worst? Promoting real statutory rape and sexual assault in the form of music or the on-going incestuous relationship between music companies and radio. We all know what R. Kelly's sheets smell like...however there are too many out there that are immune to the smell. No matter what your thoughts about the new Beyonce album, there is beauty in releasing a project on your own terms. Instead of corporate execs dictating to the public who or what they should listen to...

The following post paints a picture that we hope makes you think twice before you do any future steppin' to R. Kelly music during the holiday season!



Nobody Matters Less to Our Society Than Young Black Women" -Richard Prince's Journal-isms

"It has been nearly 15 years since music journalist Jim DeRogatis caught the story that has since defined his career, one that he wishes didn't exist: R. Kelly's sexual predation [sic] on teenage girls," Jessica Hopper reported Monday for the Village Voice, referring to the R&B singer best known for "I Believe I Can Fly."

Hopper's story was headlined, "Read the 'Stomach-Churning' Sexual Assault Accusations Against R. Kelly in Full." By Wednesday afternoon, it had generated 2,366 comments and the support of several other writers.

"DeRogatis, at that time the pop-music critic at the Chicago Sun-Times, was anonymously delivered the first of two videos he would receive depicting the pop star engaging in sexual acts with underage girls. Now the host of the syndicated public radio show Sound Opinions and a professor at Columbia College, DeRogatis, along with his former Sun-Times colleague Abdon Pallasch, didn't just break the story, they did the only significant reporting on the accusations against Kelly, interviewing hundreds of people over the years, including dozens of young women whose lives DeRogatis says were ruined by the singer.

"This past summer, leading up to Kelly's headlining performance at the Pitchfork Music Festival, DeRogatis posted a series of discussions about Kelly's career, the charges made against him, and sexual assault. He published a live review of the singer's festival set that was an indictment of Pitchfork and its audience for essentially endorsing a man he calls 'a monster.' In the two weeks since Kelly released his latest studio album, Black Panties, the conversation about him and why he has gotten a pass from music publications (not to mention feminist sites such as Jezebel) has been rekindled, in part because of the explicit nature of the album and also because of online arguments around the Pitchfork performance.

"I was one of those people who challenged DeRogatis and was even flip about his judgment — something I quickly came to regret. DeRogatis and I have tangled — even feuded on air — over the years; yet, amid the Twitter barbs, he approached me offline and told me about how one of Kelly's victims called him in the middle of the night after his Pitchfork review came out, to thank him for caring when no one else did. He told me of mothers crying on his shoulder, seeing the scars of a suicide attempt on a girl's wrists, the fear in their eyes. He detailed an aftermath that the public has never had to bear witness to.

"DeRogatis offered to give me access to every file and transcript he has collected in reporting this story — as he has to other reporters and journalists, none of whom has ever looked into the matter, thus relegating it to one man's personal crusade.

Read more... go to the Journal-isms website

Former NBA player Etan Thomas More Fans Should Be Outraged by R. Kelly’s New Album Cover

The cover photo for R. Kelly’s latest album, "Black Panties." "Pay attention to his lyrics, and it appears as though not only is Kelly bragging about what he’s alleged to have done, but he’s also giving a big middle finger to anyone who questions why he loves 'these girls' or whoever might try to stop him," according to writer Etan Thomas.