Public Announcement: R Kelly is coming

CAPTION: The Zorro mask and French braids plus the Grammy Awards background in this picture of R Kelly answer the quiz that Zain has put for its customers to guess who is coming to town and they win. However, R Kelly has since removed the braids...you doubt us, read on...








Saving your pennies for Christmas, sijjuyi, New Year's?
Wait a minute; some of us are saving for what promises to be the biggest concert in this decade - it's R. Kelly coming to tawo baby!
We can exclusively confirm that the American R&B and soul singer-songwriter will jet into Kampala for a show scheduled to take place at Lugogo Cricket Oval on January 29 - two weeks before the 2008/2009 Pam awards take place on February 13.
He is coming courtesy of Zain Uganda as part of promotion for their new product to be launched very soon. The campaign has already started with teasers in the newspapers where people can win airtime of up to Shs50,000 by guessing the artiste coming. Of course, we're sorry for letting the cat out of the bag but who can you blame for getting excited about the world's best R&B crooner.
Zain has paid R. Kelly $300,000 (around Shs600m) for the show - mind you, that cost doesn't include transport, accommodation and meals.
An insider tells us, the Zain people are tired of people referring UB40 to the greatest show Uganda has ever seen as they hope R Kelly will rewrite history as far as concerts in Ugandan is concerned. Of course, he can!
Besides being bigger than UB40 in all aspects, this is R Kelly's only second visit to Africa - he had never been to Africa until recently this year when he performed in South Africa; see, we're even ahead of Nigerians and the rest.
The 42-year-old occasional rapper debuted in 1992 with the group Public Announcement before going solo in 1993 and launching a successful career starting with the album, 12 Play. Today, the world over from Brazillian beaches to Asian deserts to African bushes, European conurbations and American hoods everybody knows R Kelly thanks to a collection of hit singles including Bump n' Grind, I Believe I Can Fly, Gotham City, Ignition, If I Could Turn Back The Hands Of Time, The World's Greatest, and the hip-hopera Trapped in the Closet just to mention a few. He's one guy who can sing for more than 24 hours without repeating a song and most importantly, without boring the audience.
With his mixed pack of gospel music and songs with highly sexual innuendos, we wonder if even our Christian sisters and brother will be tempted to attend this one.
Of course, they will.