"Never underestimate how much n----s love R. Kelly."

For those that don't know, that's quote is from the Boondocks, a good cartoon and an even better comic strip. I've only seen the cartoon once, great episode about R. Kelly and that quote was in that show. In the aftermath of the Hopkins-Taylor II Fight I've had a few people ask me about R. Kelly's rendition of the national anthem since I am first a sports fan and I watched the fight and secondly because they know after sports I love my music as well that music being mainly hip-hop and R&B.

When we were getting ready for the fight and then it was announced that R. Kelly was doing the national anthem I got excited. Aside from what he does in his personal life and his pending charges, Kels is a great singer and I am definitely a fan of his music. When that beat first hit I thought to myself, "uh-oh what's goin on here?" The beat was cool and he was doing his own rendition of it, you could call it his remix. At first I was getting into it, partially cause I was starting to get drunk from the Red Bull Vodkas I started pounding after I got home from the SC-LA game.

Then it got a little too over the top even for me. Granted it's not in the Roseanne Barr or Carl Lewis bad performances of the Star Spangled Banner but the way the pied piper of R&B tried to do it just didn't seem right. He had two dancers there dancing in the ring as he was singing and then tried to turn it into his concert by telling everyone to clap their hands. I thought that wasn't right. I understand trying to make his own version to switch it up, Marvin Gaye's rendition at the NBA All-Star Game comes to mind, but I think he went about it the wrong way and now he's got all this controversy surrounding it, doesn't help with his off-stage problems. It's just like there are a group of people at Michigan who raise their fist for when the anthem says "What so proudly we hailed." For those that don't know the Michigan Fight song everytime it says Hail!, you raise your fist so they take it as an extension of that and raise their first during the national anthem. I don't believe that's right and I think most people agree with me as only a small minority of people do it.

So R. Kelly tried to make a legendary performance of the Star Spangled Banner and failed. Regardless of the dancing or the clap your hands I think most would disagree with what he did but that's what put it over the top for me. I will give him credit for having the guts to attempt it and it almost worked but I guess he'll have to cement his legacy by making more chapters to Trapped in the Closet.