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R. Kelly was about to call it quits from the music industry in 1998.

Despite the mega success R. Kelly had experienced with sales of more than 38.5 million albums in the U.S. and 54 million abroad, making him the most successful R&B musician of the 1990s.

R Kelly released some surprising facts on himself when he spoke to Vibe magazine earlier this month; including the fact that he was so depressed in 1998 after listening to people around him, he was about to walk away from music altogether.

So glad he didn’t!

“I was dealing with serious management problems… I was at that position in that part of my career where I was being threatened to be left by my [team],” said the 46-year old crooner who has been referred to as one of the greatest songwriter’s of the 21st century.

“I was told if I didn’t do what I was told to do that I would never sing again… or that I would be blackballed from the music industry,” Kelly said. “I was actually believing some of that stuff.”

Hard to swallow from the man who penned the words to the celebrated anthem, ‘I Believe I Can Fly,’ right?

But one never knows where their inspiration will come from, or what form it will take, as Kelly shares here.

“I really got inspired by the film The Hurricane I went into the studio and started working on new music for TP-2.com and [later] the Chocolate Factory [sic]. I just said, ‘You know what? I’m not going nowhere no matter who I’m with. Whatever this gift is it lives within me.’”

This Summer Kelly releases his 12th studio album, Black Panties. And before you go getting any ideas, the man says he himself is the inspiration behind this music.