R&B star R. Kelly is currently behind bars awaiting trial on sex crime charges related to six women and girls.
Prison walls, however, were not enough to stop the Chicago-based artist from taking to social media on his 54th birthday, Jan. 8, to share a track written to address those who have confronted the artist about his alleged abuse of young women.
Attached to a photo of the crooner holding several championship belts, Kelly, born Robert Kelly, uploaded one verse from his 2011 song, “Shut Up,” to Instagram Friday, speaking of a “tsunami of rumors” ruining his career.
Lyrics the songwriter posted include, “After 22 years of a blessed career/ Had me lying in my hospital bed crying mad tears/ But just as I have many people hatin me, Had so many people loving me/ And let’s not forget the hood around the world covering me/ And to everybody that be calling me, Telling what they’ve been sayin about me/ Bringin me all of this negative s–t, ya’ll the ones I ain’t f–king with.”
The chorus simply reads, “Can I get a witness for all of this, When people all up in your business, tell em shut up, tell em shut up, tell em shut up! I’m talking to you!”
Kelly captioned the clip, “Thank you God, for My Life! 🎂 👑”
This was Kelly’s first post in exactly a year, as he shared concert footage to Instagram on his 53rd birthday.
Kelly’s sex trafficking and racketeering case in Brooklyn is scheduled to go to trial in early April.