R, Kelly Sex Tape Trial: The Prologue

Maybe you bought the tape at a hip-hop record store, when it came out in 2002, wrapped in a handmade sleeve that promised "R. Kelly Xxxposed!" Maybe you downloaded it off the Internet, or saw it at a party.

Now, you’re going to find out whether the R. Kelly Sex Tape was the real deal (and whether you’d better get rid of it). A decade after he allegedly filmed himself shagging and urinating on a teenage girl in his wood-paneled rumpus room, R. Kelly is going on trial for child pornography. If convicted, he faces up to 15 years in prison. Jury selection is scheduled to begin Friday in what will be the latest contest between a player-hating prosecutor and a louche, over-sexed celebrity -- think Errol Flynn, Chuck Berry, Bill Clinton, and Michael Jackson.

Usually, the celebrities win. (Sorry, Chuck.) The odds in this case favor Kelly. Both he and his alleged victim are expected to claim that those were, uh, two other people on that tape. To counter that, prosecutors are calling on a forensic expert to testify that the vein patterns of the man on the tape match the vein patterns on Kelly’s hands, and that the girl has the body of a 14-year-old. Do I hear "reasonable doubt"? Plus, thanks to the decade-long delay, the girl is now a woman in her 20s. Up on the witness stand, she won’t look like the violated waif who inspired the charges.

The prosecution does have a witness who will testify she was the third party in a menage a trios with Kelly and the girl. Whether or not her testimony helps the state’s case, it should give us the sweaty details of what Kelly was singing about on "Double Up." And that may be the point. Even if the state can’t convict Kelly in court, it can bring the skankiest aspects of his sex life to a crossover audience. None of the revelations will shock Kelly’s fans, who stood by him after his wedding to then-15-year-old Aaliyah, and thought he was brilliant when he peopled Trapped in the Closet, his I’m-making-it-up-as-I-go-along soap opera, with an adulterous midget and a bisexual preacher. But after this trial, we may not hear "I Believe I Can Fly" at as many high school graduations.

R. Kelly’s trial will also allow us into the lubricious world of an R&B star, where fame can give a grown man a pass on adulthood. Kelly has lived the life all us guys fantasized when we were 14 -- with the same 14-year-old girls we were fantasizing about.

Unrestrained priapism is a perk of success. Entertainers wench like sultans, but few have been jailed for their kinkiness. Usually, they buy their victims’ silence. Kelly has done it himself, spending $250,000 to settle a lawsuit with a 15-year-old group sex partner. The Big Question in this trial: "If you’re rich, talented and famous, can you piss on anyone you want?" We’ll know the answer in a few weeks. Watch The Blender Blog for daily trial coverage.

Edward McClellan