Last month, singer, songwriter and producer R. Kelly was hit with over 60 building code violations, due in part to Kelly’s unauthorized built-in sauna, steam room, bar and other residential amenities inside his controversial Chicago recording studio.
However, despite the violations and subsequent fines over the residential structure of the studio, a judge allowed Kelly the opportunity to keep his studio, if he removed the personal items and promised to work during normal business hours.
But now, Kelly is firing back at the new restrictions, and using his career in his defense.
“I have never been creative or worked between the hours of 9 am and 5 pm,” Kelly said in a two-page affidavit filed on Thursday. “This inability to use my studio has not affected the landlord’s expectation that rent must be paid. Creativity manifests in various ways and a plethora of times.”
Meanwhile, city attorneys have maintained that the studio is “too potentially dangerous to allow the tenant to use the building at all,” alleging Kelly’s illegal use of the studio as a living space supports allegations that Kelly abused young women and girls in the building.
However, Kelly’s lawyer insists that they are “making progress” to bring the building up to code, but in the meantime, Kelly just wants to “be able to work again.”
Apparently, Kelly hasn’t used the Chicago studio since January.
