I did 'Love Letter' and 'Write Me Back,' and those were fun albums for me to do because they took me back to music I love.
— R. Kelly
I always follow what my spirit tells me to do.
You save money so your kids can go to college - no matter what they are or who they are. They're your kids; you gotta support them.
I've always wanted to write movies - I always used to tell my mom that I wanted to be a director.
I have always been infatuated with country music.
I started calling myself the Pied Piper, when I started using the flute sound in my music.
Always believe what you see - with your own eyes, that is. Always believe what you see. That's the best way to go about this business. I've heard a lot of things about a lot of people, and it was never true.
To make an album like 'Love Letter,' everything's got to be about love. Everything has to have a great feeling when you listen to it.
I will always do R. Kelly - I'm not perfect, but I'm perfectly me.
When a person is found not guilty, they're found not guilty.
If I could change anything, I would definitely have had a father around. My father. I would definitely say it affected me deeply as a young man, coming up. Who doesn't want a father? Those are the beginnings, and those are what can dictate the roads you choose in life, and choosing them well.
In my life, I wanted to feel tall. I wanted to be somebody. I wanted to be tall as the Sears Tower. I wanted to be on top of the Sears Tower. I wanted to be as strong as the Sears Tower feels.
I've always had mostly women come out to see me perform. That's the reason the guys show up; they know R. Kelly is going to draw the women. Most of the songs I'm singing are catering to women anyway.
R. Kelly is an image, a brand. That's my job. There's a whole other side of me that's Robert, who is a father, a friend. But then I put on the game face and go into the studio and do the music. That's just another day at the office.
There was a time I desperately needed for the world to know that I was no category guy. My whole goal in life was to reach that certain success where people will say, 'Hey, that guy can do anything. He's the Evel Knievel of music. He's jumping over 15 buses!'
Once I started singing, I didn't have to try to be cool. I was just one of the coolest guys around.
I have always been infatuated with country music. Country music tells stories, and I've always loved to tell stories. I said that when I establish myself as an artist that can do pretty much anything I want to do in music, I'm going to make a country album.
I try to write life and not songs. People live life, and when you write life, you're going to mess around and touch somebody's heart, and they'll relate to you and what you're singing about.
When I met Michael Jordan on a basketball court at an athletic club - we hooped together in Chicago - he came to me and asked me if I wanted to do a song for his upcoming movie. I was like, 'Yeah!' I didn't even ask what it was.
You don't want R&B singers to get into beef. Leave that to the rappers, let them do that - R&B, be classy.
I said that when I establish myself as an artist that can do pretty much anything I want to do in music, I'm going to make a country album.
I've called myself the Pied Piper, I've called myself the Weatherman, I've called myself Kellz, I've called myself a lot of things, changing the name, switching it up, just flipping, remixing. But never to harm anybody. Never to make a deep statement for people to dig into and figure it out.
I want to be able to be a father to my kids, where I've never seen my father, but my kids can see me whenever they want, so that was broken.
I gave a Christmas party last year - well, two Christmases ago - where I did a Sam Cooke show. I didn't perform as R. Kelly. I performed the Sam Cooke show from 1964, when he performed at the Copacabana.
'Love Letter' is a concept album, and whenever I do a concept album - and I love doing concept albums more than any other kind of album - it allows me to get dressed, in a way, musically.
Everywhere I go, from malls to restaurants to sold-out tours overseas and back, everywhere I've been, I get nothing but love.
I'm a man that believes what I see, and everywhere I go... and everywhere I've been... I get nothing but love.
I'm not an A student; I'm not even a B student, but I've gotten a lot better with the reading because of texts. And I can voice-text and say whatever I want to people.
When you hear romantic music, it makes you want to take your girl out to dinner or buy her something or take her out in the moonlight or take her on a walk.
I like to give people more than their money's worth.
I look at my music in the beginning, and the sexual songs, the partying songs, those are the realities because those things happen.
When I think of musical geniuses, I think of Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Michael Jackson and Prince. That's who comes to mind.
When I first came in the business, I had a couple of close calls on planes going to London for shows. There was one time where the plane had to fly around until a storm ended, and then we started having a question about fuel, so we had to go through the storm. It was the worst thing that ever happened in my life. That really messed me up.
I still feel like I'm alone at times - even if I'm in the midst of a million people. Because no one - including me - understands my mind creatively. I haven't really been formally introduced to my gift yet. I feel like I'm still on the runway.
When I get into the studio, I write from my heart.
I have three lovely, lovely kids that I am in love with and that's in love with me.
I couldn't believe I was working with Michael Jackson. I thought, growing up as a kid, I thought Michael was a cartoon.
Country music tells stories, and I've always loved to tell stories.
I don't really know the story of the Pied Piper. I don't read stories, first of all. I just remember either a rabbit or a rat leading people out of the village with a flute. That's all I can tell you.
I'm not gonna be broke, like my mom was broke, my uncles were broke, my sisters didn't have money, my cousins on down.
I have to say, it was fun doing this 'Love Letter' album because, hey, man, love has never failed. It has won every battle. And today and forevermore, it will go on undefeated. I'm also a very loving person.
Nobody knows 100% what affects the human body, mind or spirit.
I have fans, and I have family that love me, and I have my music, and I have my breath going in and out.
You can't satisfy everybody. I will continue to do my job until I get fired, and the only people who can fire me are my fans.
Other kids could read, other kids could write, other kids could spell, they could do math. I felt like an alien. I felt like an outcast. I felt like, 'What is going to happen to me?'
Music is very powerful and can make you feel whatever it is. If you listen to gospel, you're going to feel thankful, and you're going to want to call up people that you hate and tell them that you love them. When you listen to sexual music, it gets you in the mood.
I've been blackmailed a billion times. I've been sued for ridiculous things. At one point in my life, I was an ATM machine. But I'm used to that. You don't get used to it, but I'm used to the fact that people will do this, even your own family members, and I don't hate none of them.
My mother always told me if you write about life, you will always be in the game. Just don't write songs... write life. I decided to take her up on that.
I've really been writing a lot of country songs. I used to get criticized for doing a 'Bump & Grind,' then turning around and doing a gospel song. But the truth is I'm glad I have a gift that allows me to switch lanes.
My music has shaken hands with the world somehow - it's a beautiful disease, and I'm glad I got it.
