I've spent a surprising amount of time with R. "I get a hard-on for water sports and adolescents" Kelly's new 5 part melodrama/song, "Trapped In The Closet." I've still got 2 1 more parts to go. Once I got over waiting for Ron Isley to pop in there, a few things popped out for me:
1. I'm kinda fascinated by the moral code -- or lack of. Everyone's a cheater. Everyone's been shady and sneaking around. No one finds it that out of the ordinary their husbands are still out of the house at 7am. Yet I like the "what's good for the goose is good for the gander" aspect. The spoilers for part 4 have Kells getting a surprise in his bed which I find hilarious.
1a. The mock outrage. Since everyone's a cheat, you'd think they'd be above getting on their high horses about it.
2. The song is fundamentally absurd. If I got caught by a cuckolded husband, the last thing I'd do is wait around and see what his surprise is -- me waving a gun or not. It would've been a different -- and possibly more entertaining -- song if Chuck was only pretending to be the lover and ended up sticking Kells up with a gun. He should've been out of there almost immediately.
3. The names are just funny to me because I really don't think there's a black person under the age of 45 named Chuck, Cathy, or Rufus, so I was mentally visualizing Kathy being CCH Pounder (I actually have no idea if she's over 45 or not).
4. The most vivid mental connection I get when I hear this is like I'm listening to a "chitlin circuit" show. If someone made a script out of these songs and put it on at the Beacon, they'd be rolling in the dough. And now that I think of it....
4a. The throwaway lines are brilliant. "There's a mystery here and I'm gonna solve it!" "Don't give me that mack shit please." "Why don't I just go out the window?/Except for one thing: we're on the fifth floor/Shit...think...shit...think" "Brother spare me the detail" "I should've known you'd go and do some bogus shit up in my house!"
ETA: 5. Part 4 is total crap. Talk about a letdown! He couldn't go one song without reminding you he's the Twelve Play guy! It so better pick up for part 5.
6. The video for Part 1 is up. I'd say it's well done. I totally though Rufus was Farnzworth Bentley at first though!
Related sorta (yes and no) is that Anthony has walked himself right into a shitstorm. I'm wary of double-barrel shotgun blast type of bombast in the best of terms, but in this one I especially think the vitrol towards him is misguided. I've spoken my piece on it and I'm not defending much about his article's position, but saying that by giving them a tentative pass in one review you are saying yes to rape/patriarchy/subjugation is a real leap.
Posted by Candicissima at May 31, 2005 02:56 PMYou say part 4 is bad, but that's because you haven't thought about the video that will follow.
Posted by: Anthony at June 2, 2005 12:30 PMOh yes I have...softcore porn featuring R. I'll pass thanks.
Posted by: Candicissima at June 2, 2005 05:56 PMMy sister and I both thought that Part 4 was the weakest of the five songs. Part 5 does make up for four, though. Part 5 hit rotation in Chicago this evening. I do not want to spoil the "twist" in five, but you find with whom his wife had sex right before R. Kelly got home, and you find out how she is connected to the events that R. Kelly experienced prior to coming home.
Posted by: JDP at June 3, 2005 09:31 PMI heard Part 5 (god bless the internet!) and have to amend my post. The creative peak was totally part 3. Part 5 was way too jumbled and silly for the twist to even redeem it.
Posted by: Candicissima at June 3, 2005 09:39 PM