R. Kelly is scheduled to perform at the Hulu Theatre at New York City's Madison Square Garden next month, according to the venue's website, ticketing platforms, and Kelly's RCA Records artist page. The little-noticed September 15 booking is, paradoxically, the embattled singer's most high-profile gig in years. It comes amid ongoing public outcry over Kelly's history of alleged sexual abuse and...

Kitti Jones met R. Kelly after a show in Dallas in 2011, while she was working as a DJ for 97.9 The Beat, a local radio station that was sponsoring the afterparty. She’d been a fan of the R&B icon since his 1993 debut album 12Play, and was thrilled to talk to him---even more so when he gave her his phone number and asked for hers in return. Things moved quickly after that. Within five months,...

Spike Lee can only go big. There is no subtlety or secret message that flies over your head. It’s all right there, underlined and bolded. Blakkklansman, Lee’s latest film, doesn’t pretend to be about anything but the insidious and destructive nature of white supremacy. It’s a mess of a film that, at times, trades character development or storytelling for the larger message, which can be effective...