R. Kelly posted a video message yesterday and he spoke his true thoughts on how fans of all other genres still support artists like Adele and Ed Shereen, but how R&B artists also need that same support from R&B fans to keep soul music alive. He also said that his record label is treating him like a step-child.

R. Kelly’s album, The Buffet, was released yesterday (12-11-15) and when it comes to marketing and promoting his new album, his label is giving him the section 8 promotion package, as opposed to the premium royalty promotion plan. Labels are renowned for doing this to artists who are actually gems on their roster. Do they think R. Kelly’s fans are all dead or something? Just because they’re not 22 anymore doesn’t mean that they don’t like music anymore.

Another thing that’s been happening surrounding the release of The Buffet is that some people on social media have been coming down hard on Kelly about the sexual allegations stemming from 2002 that he was found not guilty of in court. Some believe him, some don’t. That’s why his non-believers were angered by his video message- it wasn’t because of what Kellz was saying, but because it was him who was saying it. They felt that he doesn’t deserve to be supported because of his past sexual allegations.

So here’s what I think about Kelly’s video message. He made an excellent point about how R&B does not get the support it deserves, but his situation isn’t just about folks not supporting R&B, it’s about some folks not supporting him as a result of those 2002 allegations. Sometimes we all get to a point of beating a dead horse and I think this is one of those times for R. Kelly. The man is a phenomenal artist, but I think that no matter what he does for the rest of his life, he will never be able to fully live down the 2002 sexual allegations that loom over his head like a dark cloud. There are many of his supporters who have moved past it after he was found not guilty, but there are many others who will never move past the allegations and that’s just something that Kelly has to live with.

Therefore he doesn’t necessarily need to make videos attempting to get the support of 100% of the people who probably were fans of his in the pre-allegations era, he only needs to concern himself with the support of the approximately 50% who are still down with him ’til the end. He also should continue doing what he does now and that is to pay his bills by doing concerts and such, and if he can live with that, that would be his best option, because he’ll never be able to regain the fans he lost.

It may also be a good idea for him to attain 100% of those fans another way- by maybe putting a lot of his energy in to developing new artists who have great potential because he is skilled enough to create R&B stars. For example, if Kelly would have been the one to discover and invest in artists like Chrisette Michelle, Dwele, and others who are genuinely good artists by nature, that would have been a great move for him and a step in a wise direction in my humble opinion.

What do you think ILOSM family- Should R. Kelly continue to rally for the support of 100% of his old fans or just the percentage that are still his supporters now?