The Jazz in the Gardens music festival will be held on March 21st and 22nd in Miami Gardens, Florida. The festival will feature performances from Toni Braxton, Maxwell, Erykah Badu, R. Kelly, Run DMC, Sheila E., and Brian Culbertson. The event will also feature the Jazz in the Gardens All Stars, and R&B supergroup Men of Soul, consisting of Freddie Jackson, Peabo Bryson, and Jeffrey Osbourne. The music festival will be hosted by comedians Rickey Smiley and DL Hughley.
There doesn’t seem to be any controversy surrounding R. Kelly’s scheduled performance at the Jazz in the Gardens festival, but his expected appearance at The Free Press Summer Fest in Houston has drawn criticism. A non-profit organization in Texas called Girls Rock Camp Houston has written a letter to the Summer Fest organizers, requesting R. Kelly’s removal from the artist lineup. The R&B singer was indicted in Chicago on twenty-one counts of child pornography in 2002. Those charges were later reduced to 14 counts, and in the end, R. Kelly was found not guilty of all the charges in 2008. Despite the not guilty verdict, the R&B singer has never been able to fully escape the sexual predator allegations. The Summer Fest organizers have agreed to meet with the ladies of Girls Rock Camp Houston, although it is doubtful they will remove R. Kelly from the artist lineup.
Kelly’s alleged sexual indiscretions were also addressed in Lifetime’s Aaliyah biopic. One of the film’s storylines was his marriage to the late Aaliyah in 1994. The marriage was eventually annulled by Aaliyah’s parents, due to the fact that the singer was only 15 years old. Kelly has always denied he ever dated the R&B singer, and he refuted the marriage claim during a radio interview earlier this year. Even with the sexual allegations, Kelly has still managed to sell millions of records worldwide. The R&B singer has released ten studio albums since his child pornography indictment in 2002. His latest album, Black Panties, was released in 2013. The project featured appearances from Kelly Rowland, 2 Chainz, Ludacris, Jeezy, Migos, and Juicy J. Black Panties reached the Number 2 position on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Abums chart, and Number 4 on the Billboard 200.
FDRMX Eyes: The Hourglass Cats are a garage rock, ska, and reggae band. THC has recently released their music video for “Be That Way.”
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