The Pied Pi(ss)er of R&B

whahappen?! — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 23:29:04 -0800

Despite ongoing legal issues, Robert Sylvester Kelly continues to reign as an icon of commercial rap/r&b. His 'direct' approach to lyrics - that behind the bizarre metaphors and often hilariously tasteless statements that have been the key to his longevity - also shines through in some of his biggest hits. Kelly's piece de resistance, Trapped In the Closet, which recently released 10 new 'chapters,' takes his penchant for crude storytelling to new heights. Featuring love-triangles, -pentagons, and -octagons, not to mention a well-endowed 'midget', the soap-like series is being credited with the creation of a new genre of music video. Not one to let the strange allure of his work speak for itself, Kelly describes TITC as "my alien."

Finding and Feeling the Neal Medlyn Way

jayder — Sat, 17 Jun 2006 21:50:03 -0800

"Sloppiness is my palette." Neal Medlyn is the self-proclaimed "Paris Hilton of Performance Art" who looked for "bits and pieces of coolness in normal things or in anything" when he was growing up in small-town Texas. Now performing regularly in New York City, Medlyn played a nude Dubya shacking up with Karen Finley's nude Martha Stewart in George and Martha (here's a review and another review; photos NSFW). According to the 2000 Austin Chronicle profile (written by his future wife) Medlyn came off as a lunatic in his early performances, many of which were sparsely attended, and involved "music, little routines, and group activities, like having everyone sit in the dark and listen very closely to a song he likes." Medlyn has performed, with Kenny Mellmann, a show of R. Kelly songs (watch him performing one; Google Video); he loves (NSFW) Lionel Richie (whose songs he finds strange and beautiful; watch mpg here); and he wrote a book inspired by his own buttocks (NSFW). Medlyn is currently doing, with Carmine Covelli, a somewhat Peewee Herman-ish video series for Nerve called Neal Medlyn's Land of Make-Believe (NSFW; videos depict group sex, performed by various animal puppets). Here is a 2004 interview with Medlyn. And Medlyn has a Myspace profile.

MetaFilter posts tagged with rkelly

The Pied Pi(ss)er of R&B

Finding and Feeling the Neal Medlyn Way