Well, R. Kelly is bringing his Single Ladies Tour to Shea's in Downtown Buffalo tonight. But since it looks like you can't get a ticket for less than $200 at this point, it's safe to say I will NOT be going, and I'm pretty sure you won't be either. So, I feel like the part of this post where I have to preview the actual show is over.

But R. Kelly is an undeniable creative force in the urban contemporary/R&B world, and you have to mention that he's probably won a bunch of Grammys and made millions of dollars before you immediately and inevitably switch gears and start talking about how crazy he is. R. Kelly is crazy, a priori. His genius is tempered by a bizarre madness made all the more bizarre by how unaware of it he seems, even as he embraces it. The performer recently announced that he'd written 85 (eighty-five) new chapters to his infamous rap opera, “Trapped In The Closet,” an already-seemingly endless saga of deceit and infidelity (and one ad nauseum beat). I was going to embed the first installment below and encourage the reader to ride it out, but you know what? Space Jam: