February 3rd, 2010 / 4:21 pm
Craft Notes

R. Kelly on Writing

“It’s almost like mama jokes to me. You got some good mama jokes and I got some, you hit me up then I got some. You go first show me what you got and if they good we gonna trade off and use em. We just change up and trade up.”

“You’re trying to throw a rock at the top of the Sears tower.”

“When I’m up twenty I always play like I’m down forty.”

“I usually don’t hear my influences til the song is over with. When I’m writing I’m so into what I’m hearing on the radio in my head that I’m just like, ‘Wow, I can’t wait to finish this so everybody else can hear what I’ve just heard.’ It’s like there’s a monster in the backyard, and you’re just like, ‘Look out the window, y’all!’ I just want people to hear what’s in my head and I just be anxious to get into the studio and get it done. Once it’s done it’s like, ‘Oh man, that riff right there is like some Sam Cooke shit.’”

“My greatest competition is, well, me…”

“I’m pregnant by music.”

“It’s a silent competition. But it’s all good if you know how to keep it in perspective and have fun with it. A lot of kats don’t understand that the point of a remix is to make it better than the record, not just change it. They think that if they just change it that should do it, but what they’re really doing is just killing the original song.”

“Not only did I get an A in music but I got an A in ladies.”

“Sometimes the doctor has to inject his own self.”

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26 Comments

  1. MoGa

      “Not only did I get an A in music but I got an A in ladies.”

      Hahahaha! Wow.

  2. MoGa

      “Not only did I get an A in music but I got an A in ladies.”

      Hahahaha! Wow.

  3. Schylur Prinz

      In an unreachable future I will teach a class whose syllabus will consist only of Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Each class will start with the screening of a single chapter from ‘Trapped in the Closet.’ No further mention of R. will be made by me, the professor, and the students who ask ‘why?’ will be barred entry.

  4. Schylur Prinz

      In an unreachable future I will teach a class whose syllabus will consist only of Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Each class will start with the screening of a single chapter from ‘Trapped in the Closet.’ No further mention of R. will be made by me, the professor, and the students who ask ‘why?’ will be barred entry.

  5. .

      Trapped in the Closet may be the work of a genius. I don’t know.

  6. .

      Trapped in the Closet may be the work of a genius. I don’t know.

  7. Tom

      Greatest hip-hopera ever. Addictive. Amazing…(I could go on and on). I want Criterion to put out the DVD.

  8. Tom

      Greatest hip-hopera ever. Addictive. Amazing…(I could go on and on). I want Criterion to put out the DVD.

  9. Steve Parker

      Music be, like, you know. Like, you know, you be up in music and all? Sam, Dave, Otis be, like, up in me, you know, like in. My head be throb. Wish all ya’ll could be known inside to me, like, when ya’ll be music, you know. Music.

  10. Steve Parker

      Music be, like, you know. Like, you know, you be up in music and all? Sam, Dave, Otis be, like, up in me, you know, like in. My head be throb. Wish all ya’ll could be known inside to me, like, when ya’ll be music, you know. Music.

  11. aisha

      ugh
      leave us alone
      please.

  12. aisha

      ugh
      leave us alone
      please.

  13. Tonia

      haha awesome. i knew there was a reason i wanted to read htmlgiant today

  14. Tonia

      haha awesome. i knew there was a reason i wanted to read htmlgiant today

  15. Mark C

      good news, tom: http://tinyurl.com/yzamavd

      I was working in New York with a bunch of serious R&B junkies when Hot 97 premiered episodes 1 and 2. They thought it was the greatest thing ever. I remember, I was driving home from my Girlfriend’s place in Astoria when I heard Chapter 3, when it’s revealed that Rufus has been sleeping with a man. I was so shocked, I almost crashed into a guardrail.

      I wish I was kidding.

  16. Mark C

      good news, tom: http://tinyurl.com/yzamavd

      I was working in New York with a bunch of serious R&B junkies when Hot 97 premiered episodes 1 and 2. They thought it was the greatest thing ever. I remember, I was driving home from my Girlfriend’s place in Astoria when I heard Chapter 3, when it’s revealed that Rufus has been sleeping with a man. I was so shocked, I almost crashed into a guardrail.

      I wish I was kidding.

  17. Mark C

      also, check out “real talk.” the man has lost his mind.

  18. Mark C

      also, check out “real talk.” the man has lost his mind.

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      […] HTML Giant – R. Kelly On Writing […]

  20. Kevin

      kool keith of r&b

  21. Kevin

      kool keith of r&b

  22. markleidner

      where’s this from blake?

  23. markleidner

      where’s this from blake?

  24. Blake Butler

      various interviews online excerpted

  25. Blake Butler

      various interviews online excerpted

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      […] there’s all that, but what I’m really thinking about when I think about narration is voice. As R. Kelly says: “I just want people to hear what’s in my head.” I never thought I would quote R. Kelly, […]