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Artist: Main Concept
Genre(s):
Rap: Hip-Hop
Discography:
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Equilibrium
Year: 2005
Tracks: 16
 
Every day, two young women waited for R. Kelly.
They waited in the morning outside the courthouse to see him make his entrance. They then went and got the equivalent of a backstage pass, so they could be spectators inside the courtroom, in the back rows allotted for the public. During the lunch break, they ran over to nearby Douglas Park to see him go to his tour bus for a private meal, away from prying eyes.
At the end of the day, they tried to run out of the building before he did, so they could have a final goodbye. They shouted, "I love you!" and he smiled and waved back. And they cussed out any reporter they thought had done Kelly wrong, on his behalf. One of them commuted 40 miles (by train and then by bus) for this. The other skipped school and left her 2-year-old son with her mother. These young women — 18-year-old Jerhonda Johnson and 23-year-old Keyonia Jones — are the superfans. They are the most unwavering in their dedication to the star, even though he stood accused of taking advantage of a girl not much different from themselves.
So when the verdict came down on Friday, Johnson and Jones felt like they were vindicated too.
"From the beginning, I thought he was innocent," Jones said. "I never had any doubt they would find him not guilty. And when they read the verdict, I wanted to scream, but I didn't. I had to control my happiness until I got outside."
"Even though my eyes were watering, I didn't let the tears fall down," Johnson said. "They did after a little bit."
Jones is a criminal-justice student at Harold Washington College, and though her next semester started while the trial was in progress, she decided being in Kelly's courtroom was a better classroom than her school could have provided. "It was my first real trial that I saw that wasn't on television or scripted," she said. "I was like, 'Oh, it's like this.' It helped a lot for my major, and it made me think about going to law school."
So even though Jones is such a dedicated fan that she named her 2-year-old son Robert (and plans to name any future ones Sylvester and then Kelly, to flesh out his full name), she tried to put herself into the mindset of the jury and consider all the evidence. "Going into it, I felt he was innocent," she said. "But then I thought, 'Lemme put aside R. Kelly and just listen to what they got to say.' " With as open a mind as she could muster, Jones watched the tape. She looked for the mole on his back. She listened to Sparkle testify. But then Jones concluded, "All she wanted was money. And all the other ladies [such as witness Lisa Van Allen] wanted money."
"The state had some bad witnesses," Johnson said. "They didn't have any of her immediate family, so I was like, 'They didn't prove the case.' "
The jury might have thought it was Kelly on the tape, but these two were not convinced. "I say it wasn't him," Johnson said. "It wasn't R. Kelly at all. In 1998, 1999, he did not look like that. Yeah, he was bald, he had a nice body, but he did not have a gut, and he had one on the tape. He had a six-pack and everything back then. He was sexy. I mean, he still is, but the man on the tape was so different."
And though these young women would kill for Kelly to talk to them, they didn't want him to do it from the witness stand. "I thought it would be the dumbest thing for him to do, to testify," Jones said. "Because then they'd be able to use his past against him, and they would probably convict him."
By "his past," is Jones referring to the other underage girls who previously sued him? "Yes, and the whole thing about him supposedly marrying Aaliyah when she was underage," Jones said. She doesn't believe the marriage happened — you could show her the marriage license, and she still wouldn't believe it. You could have it on tape, so to speak, and she still would be his biggest fan, as would her friend.
"There is nothing that he could ever do to make me doubt him," Jones said. "Nothing."
"They can't call him a pedophile anymore," Johnson said. "They can't say he likes little girls. They don't have proof of that. Because he's innocent now. He's free."
Find a review of the major players in the R. Kelly trial here. For full coverage of the case, read the R. Kelly Reports and check out this complete timeline of the events surrounding the trial.
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LATEST: Model and fashion designer KIMORA LEE SIMMONS has been handed sole custody of her two children with estranged husband RUSSELL SIMMONS.
The estranged couple split in 2006 after eight years' of marriage, but Lee Simmons only filed for divorce earlier this year (Mar08), citing irreconcilable differences.
Def Jam Records co-founder Simmons challenged his ex's petition for sole custody of Ming, eight, and Aoki, five - and in May (08), filed papers seeking joint physical and legal custody of their daughters.
But Lee Simmons has reportedly won the custody battle, according to The Insider news show.
Legal papers obtained by the programme state that Simmons is entitled to have the two young girls for one week out of every eight. He will get to spend extra time with them for summer vacations and holidays.
Lee Simmons has been granted the legal authority to make all decisions in relation to their kids' health, education and welfare.
In addition, the model will receive the $480,000 (GBP240,000)-a-year in child support as per her request. Simmons is expected to continue paying the sum until 2019 for Ming Lee, and 2022 for Aoki.
But that's not all - Simmons has also been ordered to provide a car worth at least $60,000 (GBP30,000) for the use and benefit of his children, and the vehicle must be replaced every two years.
However, in an open letter to various media outlets, Simmons has insisted he is happy with the arrangements because they are in the best interests of their kids - and he claims there is no bitterness between him and his estranged wife.
He says, "I want to say Kimora is a excellent mother and is doing a great job with them... Regarding the money, my kids live a tremendous life. They do have lots of security, nannies, educators, special programs, travel, chefs, on and on. Their mother manages all of those luxuries and I'm happy to provide for that."
So cool, so nonchalant — even his most extravagant endeavors seem like just regular work to Swizz Beatz.
"I'm working on this new Michael Jackson sh--," Swizz said in as calm a manner as he did when speaking to his new manager, Chaka Zulu, about which Los Angeles restaurant they should dine at. "I'm probably gonna be producing his tour and everything. I'm designing planes for Gulf Stream and everything. They called me. I'm around different people. I'm around billionaires. I'm around people like that."
The producer said his professional life is going so well that he didn't have time to be bothered by all the rumors about his personal life. A few months ago, he and his wife, Mashonda, announced they were splitting.
"Everybody can have their fun right now talking that dumb sh-- about my divorce and all that," he said. "I'mma give them something to talk about. People get divorced every f---in' day. They need to worry about more serious things."
The big rumor in the tabloids is that Swizz and his wife broke up over the proverbial "other woman." What made the story so sensational was that the alleged mistress in this case was Grammy winner Alicia Keys. Swizz dismissed it.
"It ain't even bad," he said, more agitated. "My divorce, it ain't nothing bad. It's just us moving on. Me and Shonda are super good. It is what it is. [The press] are nine months late on the situation. It's a headache to me. We been separated nine or 10 months already."
Swizz's ire was raised in particular by recent headlines on the front pages of Hip Hop Weekly and MediaTakeout.com.
"That sh-- just looks like drama," he said. "They got another big name involved. No, I'm not doing [any] f---ing interviews. Only thing I'm commenting on is music-related. I don't comment on my personal life. Why start now? You start commenting on that sh--, then they start twisting it out. I'm not gonna speak about nothing. They [gave Mashonda] two pages in Hip Hop Weekly. She didn't even say nothing about Alicia. They blew it up on MediaTakeout.com. They flipped that into some other sh--.
"I'm not hiding anything," he added. "I can see if I was hiding something. I'm a grown man. Nobody is living no perfect life. Mashonda has a single coming out that I funded, photo shoots that I funded. We made our statement that we're still working together. They didn't wanna believe it. I said I would be continuing to support her career. Nobody wants to look at that sh--. They wanna look at 'Alicia Keys.' That sh-- is ignorant."
Later, Swizz did admit to hooking up with Alicia Keys, albeit in the musical sense. He produced a remix of her "Teenage Love Affair."
"The Alicia Keys remix is with LL Cool J," he explained. "I used the Slick Rick 'Teenage Love' on it. Then I had your man LL do the old-school 'When I'm alone in my room, sometimes I stare at the wall.' ... He used that flow. I got a couple of joints on the new T.I. album. Couple of joints on the new Ludacris. Couple of joints with Young Jeezy. Just working, man."
One of the T.I. songs is called "Louie Rag." "All right, OK, I don't dance, no way," Swizz raps on the record. "I just take my Louie rag and wave it around in the air/ I take my Gucci rag and throw it around in the air."
When asked about Tip's description of the song as the new "Bring 'Em Out," Swizz said, "I wouldn't put it under that much pressure," with a grin. "I like it. It works."
Swizzy is also behind the new G-Unit record "Get Down" and is in the lab working on some brand-new Jay-Z songs. "I gave him the out-of-control Swizz," Beatz said of the tracks. "You'll see. Out of control! F--- — spazzin', out of control!"
Swizz's new album is called Life After the Party and should be out sometime in October. The lead cut is "Where the Cash At." He already finished a video and is working on a remix. Swizz's artist Cassidy is working on a new LP as well, and there's a strong chance he'll be leaving J Records for another recording home.
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