| "Trapped in the Closet, Chapter 1" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by R. Kelly | ||||
| from the album TP.3 Reloaded | ||||
| Released | May 2005 | |||
| Format | Digital download, CD, 12" single, DVD single | |||
| Recorded | 2004-2005 | |||
| Genre | R&B, drama | |||
| Length | 3:25 | |||
| Label | Jive | |||
| Writer(s) | Robert Kelly | |||
| Producer | Robert Kelly | |||
| R. Kelly singles chronology | ||||
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"Trapped in the Closet" is a series of songs by American contemporary R&B singer R. Kelly. The song set consists of 22 chapters, which were released from 2005 to 2007. The first five chapters of the set are included on his seventh studio album TP.3 Reloaded, with the first chapter being released as the first single from the album. Written and produced by Kelly, the series tells a story of a one-night stand that sets off a chain of events, which gradually reveals a greater web of lies, sex and deceit. Musically, all chapters of the song feature the same melodic theme with varying lyrics, relating an ongoing narrative.
"Trapped in the Closet, Chapter 1" was commercially successful in the United States, peaking at #22 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
Each chapter has its own accompanying music video, which follows the storyline of the song. All the videos follow one another in terms of continuity. Videos for chapters one to five were released, individually, in sequence, from May and June 2005. Following a preview of the twelfth chapter at 2005 MTV Video Music Awards, in November 2005, seven more chapters were released exclusively on DVD, which also contained videos for the first five chapters, making a total of twelve chapters. Nearly two years later, in August 2007, ten more chapters were released to DVD. Kelly has stated the possibility of more chapters being written and released.
The series of songs, described by Kelly as a "hip hopera" was the subject of much media coverage at the time of its release. The series' popularity has led to parodies of it in other media, including being referenced in the title a controversial South Park episode of the same name, which also featured an animated depiction of Kelly. "Weird Al" Yankovic also recorded a parody of the song entitled "Trapped in the Drive-Thru".
Contents |
"Trapped in the Closet" originally appeared on Kelly's album TP.3 Reloaded, divided into five "chapters", which appear as the final five tracks on the album. The first five chapters of "Trapped in the Closet" were recorded by Andy Gallas during the 2004-2005 recording sessions for TP.3 Reloaded. R. Kelly wrote and produced all five chapters. The first of these five chapters was released as the lead single from the album in 2005, by Jive Records. Kelly and Jive Records promoted the single release by releasing each of the first five chapters of the song set to radio stations one at a time.
Following the success and popularity of the "Trapped in the Closet" song series, on August 28, 2005, R. Kelly lip-synched a "new chapter" at an appearance at the 2005 MTV Video Music Awards. Finally, in November 2005, Jive Records released a DVD entitled Trapped in the Closet, which aside from containing the five chapters of the song included on TP.3 Reloaded, also included seven more new chapters, bringing the song series to a total of twelve chapters. The material previewed by Kelly at the MTV Video Music Awards was revealed an early version of some parts of the twelfth chapter in the series.
Nearly two years later, in August 2007, Kelly and Jive released ten more chapters were released on another Trapped in the Closet DVD. These ten chapters were also shown on the Independent Film Channel (IFC), and were also streamed on IFC's website. The release of the DVD brings the series to a total of 23 chapters.
Kelly has stated that more chapters would be written and released. In December 2007, all 23 chapters were released in a DVD entitled The Big Package, which also includes a "commentary remix" featuring a preview of chapter 23. No official release dates have been announced, however, for more chapters of the series.
Kelly has described the entire "Trapped in the Closet" series as a "hip hopera", and that "it's now too long to be called a song."[1] When asked about the writing of the song, Kelly stated: "I don't know how to explain how I wrote it. It just keeps rhyming and rhyming." He has also stated that "Trapped in the Closet" seems to have taken on "a life, mind and body of its own", and has called the series an "alien".[2]
The song generally follows a storyline which continues through all the chapters. Kelly plays the role of the song's protagonist, Sylvester, who wakes up after a one-night stand with a woman. As he prepares to leave, however, the woman begs him to hide in a closet, as her husband is coming into the room, explaining the origin of the song's title. This one-night stand sets off a series of events, which gradually reveals a greater string of lies, sex, and deceit. As the story unfolds, new characters and plot twists are introduced.
The videos for all of the chapters in the "Trapped in the Closet" series basically follow the same storyline as the song. The videos were directed by R. Kelly, Jim Swaffield and Victor Mignatti, and produced by Kelly, Ann Carli and Bryan-Michael Cox. The videos were released on various DVDs, before eventually being compiled into one DVD entitled The Big Package. The combined length of the videos for all 22 chapters spans almost 84 minutes.
The first chapter begins with Sylvester (R. Kelly) waking up at around 7:00 in the morning in another person's bed. Sylvester realizes when he wakes up that another woman who is not his wife approaches him and kisses him. After scolding himself for committing infidelity, he puts on the rest of his clothes and grabs his car keys and prepares to make his way home when the woman comes back, stopping him from moving, telling him her husband is coming up the stairs. She insists Sylvester hide in the closet but Sylvester insists on jumping out of a window. When the woman reminds him they are on the fifth floor, Sylvester thinks for a moment and agrees to hide in the closet. As soon after that, her husband walks in and she lies to him, which gets Sylvester to think she should win an Oscar for her acting. They then began making love in the bed when Sylvester's cell phone goes off. Sylvester tries to put it on vibrate but the husband starts suspecting something is up and goes to investigate. After searching through a shower curtain, under the bed and even the dresser, he slowly approaches the closet. Sylvester takes his gun out in preparation. The chapter ends with the husband opening the closet.
The second chapter starts with the husband now knowing what his wife was doing behind his back. Sylvester tries calming him down but to no avail as he begins arguing with his wife. The husband nearly attacks Sylvester but stops due to the fact Sylvester is holding a gun. When the husband's cell phone rings, he tells Sylvester that he is a pastor, which Sylvester thinks would be reasonable to not resort to a violent outburst. When Sylvester decides to leave, the husband tells him to stay because he wants to reveal a "secret" to him and his wife. He then calls someone on his cell phone telling them to "turn the car around". When the person alarms him that he is at "the apartment", the husband calls the person up. Sylvester and the pastor's wife are both anxious as to what the husband is about to reveal. When the husband does not answer Sylvester's questions quickly enough on who he has been talking to, he threatens to shoot both him and his wife. Just as Sylvester gets to the count of four, someone knocks on the door. The husband opens the door and the person turns out to be another man.
Chapter three starts with all four people in the room. A shocked and confused Sylvester demands to leave after getting this news but the wife tells him to stay. She then argues with her husband, whose name is revealed to be Rufus, over his own infidelity and they argue over whose cheating was worse. The wife berates Rufus for revealing his cheating to upset her after he had busted her with Sylvester. When Sylvester quiets them and demands more explanation, the other man, Chuck, begins explaining how their affair came about. Sylvester stops him, however, from revealing any more details. After the wife berates Rufus again, Rufus reveals her real name, which is Cathy, which shocks Sylvester, who was told her name was Mary. When Sylvester again threatens to shoot them, Rufus, Cathy and Chuck all begin yelling at each other, pushing Sylvester to shoot his gun in the air to quiet them, causing them to lie on the floor. Sylvester then calls his home on his cell phone to his home but is stunned to find another man is on the phone. He then quickly bolts out of the apartment while Cathy, Rufus and Chuck remain lying on the floor.
Sylvester is seen in chapter four rushing home, angered and belligerent over the events of the previous night. As he drives home, he is pulled over by a police officer, who gives him a ticket for speeding. When he arrives home, he starts asking his wife who had answered his phone. She responds that it was her brother Twan, whom she had reminded Sylvester earlier was coming home from prison. Sylvester remembers and then apologizes to his wife before they begin engaging in sexual intercourse. In the middle of it, however, Sylvester's wife, whose name is revealed to be Gwendolyn, sees a used condom on the side of the bed, covers it up, and then jumps on top of a shocked Sylvester, who tries to get Gwendolyn to stop because he is afraid he might have a seizure. When she demands him to keep going, Sylvester tries reminding her that his leg was beginning to cramp. When Gwendolyn finally gets off him, Sylvester flips the bed cover to find the used condom that she had tried to hide from him.
The video for chapter four has since been revised to better correlate with chapter five. The line "I said 'This is some bullshit!', as he gave me the ticket" was changed to "He flicked his cigarette, as he gave me the ticket." Also, in the pullover scene, the original actor for the officer has been changed to James' current actor.
Chapter five starts with Sylvester now knowing his wife had cheated on him and he starts demanding answers. After a few more angry outbursts, Gwendolyn returns with her own knowledge of Sylvester's infidelity. He quickly turns it back around to her infidelity. When he berates her for not giving him an answer, she quickly comes up with certain names including friends of hers, named "Roxanne and Tina", and also mentions "Rufus and Chuck", which confuses Sylvester. She then mentions she and Cathy went to high school and were friends, and it was Cathy who introduced Gwendolyn to the police officer that stopped Sylvester, confirming that the police officer was her secret lover.
After the previous chapter's revelation at the end, Sylvester begins laughing at the entire situation. After a second, Gwendolyn joins him in the laughter and Sylvester begins explaining the events the previous night. Meanwhile the cop who pulled Sylvester over and the man Gwendolyn admits cheating on Sylvester with, whose name is revealed to be James, turns his car back around concerned for Gwendolyn's safety. When he sees Sylvester's car parked in a crooked space with the lights still on and sees the back door busted in, he picks up his gun and goes in to investigate. When he hears Sylvester and Gwendolyn laughing, James mistakes it for abuse. When Gwendolyn yells, "Sylvester, you're killing me", he busts in the door with Sylvester noticing the cop who pulled him over. Sylvester then pulls his gun out demanding the cop leave. After James' constant demand to freeze and Gwendolyn's pleas to Sylvester, he puts the gun down and puts his hands up. When James winks and smiles at him, an angry Sylvester rushes to James and they both wrestle with control of the gun, before thinking of it, a shot accidentally goes off.
This chapter reveals it was Twan, Gwendolyn's brother who was just released from prison, was the one who was shot. After realizing who it was, Sylvester and James argue at who was at fault with the shooting, with Sylvester blaming the entire incident on the cop. Twan is presumed to be dead but in the middle of Sylvester, James and Gwendolyn arguing, Twan coughs, assuring them he is okay and that he was only non-fatally shot in the shoulder. As Twan recovers in the bathroom, Sylvester begins telling him what caused the incident when someone knocks on the door. After being hesitant with answering the door, Sylvester grabs his gun and aims it at the door, Twan joins him snatching James' gun. At the count of three, Twan opens the door and it is revealed to be the next door neighbor, Rosie, who is shown with a spatula in her hand. A relieved Sylvester and Gwendolyn invite Rosie in while James snatches his gun back from a bewildered Twan's hands and leaves.
In this chapter, a tired and frustrated James drives back to his house when his wife Bridget calls him (Kelly sings all of Bridget's lines with a fake Southern accent.) James tells a concerned Bridget that he was heading home in which Bridget happily tells him she had baked him a cherry pie. Meanwhile at Sylvester's house, Rosie, the next door neighbor, tells Sylvester, Twan and Gwendolyn that she could not stand the cop that just left their house causing Gwendolyn, Sylvester and Twan to laugh. Back at James' house, he pulls up to the garage. A panicked Bridget rushes to the door and kisses James. When James asks her why she looked jittery, Bridget excuses it as "it's that time of the month". When Bridget tries getting him upstairs for pears, James insists on heating some leftover chicken. Bridget's nervous breakdown finally leads to James demanding a straight answer from Bridget. James then starts to wonder if Bridget had also cheated on him. Unbeknownst to him and from the looks of a nervous Bridget, it becomes clear another man is still in the house.
Note that Kelly switches from first person (as Sylvester), to third person narrative in the middle of this chapter.
James starts investigating his house for any possible intruders. When he hears a noise, he begins to search all over the kitchen while a panicked Bridget stands over by the dishes. After James checks the oven and looks behind the fridge, he notices the cherry pie with a slice cut out. When he realizes that Bridget is allergic to cherries, he turns to her and moves slowly to a scared Bridget. After demanding Bridget to move from her spot, which she eventually does, he sees the cabinet and slowly approaches it. Just as he opens it, the video suddenly stops and the narrator exits out of a closet and, breaking the fourth wall, tells the audience that the man, hiding in the cabinet, is a midget.
In this chapter, the midget jumps out of the cabinet and fights with James. After James' constant roughing up on the midget, Bridget runs upstairs where she puts out a number from her purse. Meanwhile back downstairs, James puts the midget on the table and demands to know why was he at his house. The midget continues telling him that he was paid not to tell, which only angers James, who puts his gun out on him. When he does, the midget commits bowel movements. Back at Sylvester's house, he, Twan and Gwendolyn are playing cards when the phone rings. When Gwendolyn answers it, she hears a panicked Bridget, who tells her she found her number in James' pocket. After a minute, Gwendolyn hangs up and gives Sylvester and Twan the address to the house presumably to stop the fight. Back at James' house, James and the midget continue fighting until Bridget comes back to the kitchen with a double barrelled shotgun. When James points the gun to Bridget, the midget takes his inhaler out. A few seconds later, Sylvester and Twan bust open the door and Sylvester points his gun at James. Sylvester and Twan notice a peculiar odor in the house. Due to Sylvester and Twan's entrance, the midget faints on the table.
In this chapter, the midget wakes up peculiar to seeing three guns and tries to get out of the situation. Sylvester then begs Bridget and James to put their guns down, which they adamantly refuse. Bridget then tells Sylvester she will drop the gun if James does not hurt the midget, whose name is revealed as "Big Man", a stripper at a club called Dixie's. When Sylvester asks why he was named that, the midget points down to his pants and tell him he is "blessed". After seeing Sylvester and Big Man communicating, James shuts them up calling them "Chuck and Rufus", which confuses Sylvester, who demands to know how James knew of them, though James acts bewildered to Sylvester's question. Just as James looks as if he was going to answer, Bridget starts getting sick. It is then revealed that Bridget is three-months pregnant, presumably with James' baby. After James' constant prompts to Sylvester, Twan and Big Man with his gun to leave, Bridget stops him and admits paying Big Man and even admitted that she knew that James had been cheating on her with Gwendolyn saying that she had followed him around. When James demands to know what Bridget is really telling him, Bridget says that Big Man is her baby's father, which negates her previous excuse from chapter 9 as being "that time of the month". The midget again faints at the news.
Back at Cathy's house, she, Rufus and Chuck get up from the floor. After Cathy closes the door, she and Rufus argue about the reasons why Sylvester almost shot at them from the previous chapters, with Cathy angered about Rufus "creeping" around with Chuck, who is the deacon of Rufus' church, telling him "ain't no telling what I've got", referring to sexually transmitted diseases. Chuck gets angry at this and threatens Cathy with a knife, which prompts Cathy to force him to do it. Rufus then calms them down and tries to resolve the matter but neither Cathy or Chuck listen, as they continue arguing, even as the phone rings. When it rings a second time, Cathy answers it and it is Gwendolyn and she begins telling Cathy about the drama that had went on. When Gwendolyn mentions that she saw Sylvester in Paje's club with "some crusty wig-wearing ass ho", Cathy realizes the man she had slept with that night was Sylvester. When Cathy tries telling her who the "ho" was, Gwendolyn stops her and tells her more about James and his situation. When an angry Rufus demands Cathy to finish their conversation, Cathy shuts Gwendolyn up and tells her she was the "ho" that had been with Sylvester.
The chapter initially starts with Sylvester and Twan in Sylvester's car though it is not clear at first where they are going. When Sylvester tells Twan to be on his best behavior and reminds Twan about how he got sent to jail, Twan says it "was because of Roxanne and that bitch Tina", which Sylvester remembers his wife mentioning their names on chapter five. The scene soon cuts to Rosie the nosy neighbor and her husband Randolph (played by R. Kelly), who argue over Rosie spying on other neighbors. The argument ends when the scene cuts back to Sylvester explaining to Twan that he has to collect money from someone, he tells Twan to leave the car in drive and be on the lookout and enters a restaurant. An hour goes by with no sign of Sylvester.
In chapter fourteen, it is revealed that apparently Sylvester and Cathy, who shows up in a blond wig and black dress, had made a deal for Sylvester to get caught by her pastor husband Rufus but the deal had apparently backfired, not only by Cathy's realization that Sylvester and her best friend Gwendolyn were married but also due to Cathy not wanting to end her marriage to Rufus, with Cathy later admitting she had changed her mind on the deal. When Sylvester threatens to leave, Cathy tries to explain the reasons why. A waitress comes by and offers them drinks. Sylvester looks at the waitress thinking to himself that she looked familiar. Meanwhile outside at Sylvester's car, Twan gets a call from a friend (only shown by a close up of his mouth) about Tina, telling him Tina had stopped prostituting and was working at a "legit" place. He later tells Twan that Tina was working at the same restaurant where Sylvester is at with Cathy. Back at the restaurant, Sylvester notices the waitress but can't think from where, until he sees her name tag which says "Tina". Sylvester then says he wants to talk to her but she gets scared and calls for her friend/co-worker Roxanne, who runs out with a frying pan. After Tina breaks a beer bottle and makes karate-styled moves saying to Sylvester that she and Roxanne take Tae Bo, Cathy and the rest of the patrons leave quickly, leaving Sylvester alone with Tina and Roxanne. Just as Tina and Roxanne are about to attack, Twan comes busting through the door threatening them.
With Twan, Sylvester, Tina and Roxanne in the now-empty restaurant, Twan seeks revenge on Tina and Roxanne on his arrest three years ago. Sylvester tries calming Twan down reminding him he's on house arrest and that a violent outburst would lead to a more serious time in prison. After convincing Twan to let him talk to them, Sylvester approaches the two ladies and ask them what had happened on the day of his arrest. Tina and Roxanne explain that they were on a "simple operation" describing a "trip" to Atlanta. Roxanne tells Sylvester that a high Twan was swerving on the road and cutting up on the both of them, even turning his music loud playing "Mary Jane" and screaming "I'm Rick James, bitch!" Tina explains that as soon as that happened, they heard not only police squad cars but also a helicopter. Twan's car breaks down and all three are eventually arrested. In the interrogation room, the police tell the women that Twan blamed the drug deal on them in order to save his own skin. It is then when Roxanne tells Twan she turned him in. Roxanne says Tina protected him because Tina was pregnant with Twan's baby at the time.
Indie folk musician Will Oldham makes a cameo in this chapter as one of the police officers in the interrogation.
Sylvester, stunned at first at the news of Tina having Twan's child, congratulates Twan on the news but Twan is not convinced, accusing Tina of lying on him, which causes Tina's eye to twitch, which had started when Sylvester had first approached her near the end of chapter 14. When Sylvester asks Roxanne about it, Roxanne explains a pimp had hit Tina in the eye a year ago and that she's had bad nerves ever since. Twan then pulls Sylvester to the side and begins wondering if he is really the father of Tina's child, Sylvester convinces him that a child would calm him down. When Twan tells Tina that he wants to make this work, Roxanne kisses Tina and reveals they are lovers.
In the commentary remix on the Trapped in the Closet DVD, Kelly tells the audience that in the upcoming chapters he will probably give Tina about three chapters to explain her nervous eye twitch.
Stunned at the news of Roxanne and Tina being lovers, a frustrated Sylvester points his gun at the both of them, but soon stops because of his tolerance to lesbianism, while Twan kept egging him to shoot them. Sylvester tries to get Twan to leave the restaurant. It's only after Twan threatens Tina and Roxanne that he will buy a gun and come back for them later that Sylvester finally convinces Twan to leave.
Back at the car as they drive away, Twan is still angry over seeing Roxanne and Tina together, despite Sylvester's efforts to calm him down. Around this time, Sylvester gets a phone call from Gwendolyn, who tells him that his parents, O'Dale and Myrna, got into it and Myrna had O'Dale put in jail. The scene then shifts to Rufus' church where he is leading the worship song, "Jesus Will Work It Out", with Reverend Mosley James Evans and the Peace Within Choir. When the song reaches a climax, Rufus gets a phone call and excuses himself to his office. It's Chuck, who's crying and upset over not seeing Rufus since the incident in the earlier chapters. Rufus and Chuck argue when Cathy walks in Rufus' office. When Cathy asks Rufus who was on the phone, Chuck, who can be heard accidentally on speaker phone, cries out for Rufus, which angers Cathy and the two argue before Rufus sends Cathy out to deal with the situation. Rufus then tries to let Chuck come see him so they can talk but Chuck refuses. Rufus then tells Chuck that he wants to stay married because he loves his wife & is a Pastor as the reason he doesn't wanna see Chuck anymore, which angers Chuck, who threatens to reveal their relationship. When Rufus again tries to get Chuck to come see him, Chuck reveals he is recovering at a hospital.
Reverend Mosley James Evans and the Peace Within Choir attempt to persuade Pimp Lucious, a pimp with a severe stuttering problem, to stop pimping and to turn his life around. As the choir sings "you can do it Pimp Lucious," Lucious pretends to accept the offer and leaves the church. However, he then tells his pimpin' partner, Bishop Craig, that he is never going to "s-s-s-s-s-stop p-p-p-pimpin," because "p-p-p-pimpin's for life." Then he tells Bishop Craig "now let's get this mmm-mmmmm money."
This chapter shows Rosie the Nosy Neighbor's house where Rosie is seen in her chair reading the Bible when her husband Randolph comes in shouting, "he's got the package!" to Rosie. Unwilling to listen to first, when Randolph tells her he has news on the pastor (Rufus), she demands what was going on with him. After a few bickers, Randolph tells Rosie the story: while working as a janitor for the church, Randolph hears Rufus coming into the office. Randolph hid in the closet and unintentionally overheard the conversation seen in chapter eighteen among Chuck, Rufus and Cathy. After relaying the story, Rosie asks Randolph why he had said the pastor had "the package", Randolph says that Chuck told him he was at the hospital. Rosie immediately decides to inform the masses, despite Randolph's protests. The chapter ends with Randolph sitting on the couch, falling asleep.
Sylvester and Twan go to visit an apparent mobster named Joey. Sylvester informs Joey of some "job" that could get them a lot of money. While there, Joey accuses Twan of being a cop, as well as calling him "LL Fool J," deeply offending Twan. Sylvester, trying to defuse the situation, asks Twan to wait outside the office while he and Joey discuss business. As Twan leaves the room, he remarks, "I'll be listening from the outside." Joey replies, "Yeah, yeah, whatever. Mama said knock you out, fuck outta here." While waiting outside, Twan has a nightmare of Sylvester and him in the same situation, being pointed at with guns. In the end, Sylvester wakes Twan up, then Joey and Sylvester say their goodbyes, and Joey asks Sylvester to tell Gwendolyn he says hello, as their deal is sealed.
The scene opens to O'Dale and Myrna's voicemail (Sylvester's parents) and eventually fades into the middle of the voicemail box where the narrator (Kelly) says, "and now the rumor." Throughout a series of phone conversations among all of the original characters from Chapters 1-12 and those introduced in Chapter 13-22, rumors of "The Package" circulate. Because Chuck has it, it has possibly been passed to Rufus, to his wife Cathy, to Sylvester, and to Gwendolyn. In addition, Bridget realizes that James knows both Chuck and Rufus, though he tried to hide it from her earlier, suggesting he may be on the "down-low" with Chuck as well. Gwendolyn also cheated on Sylvester with James however she used a condom as revealed in Chapter 4. This would put Bridget, Big Man, and James at serious risk. Lastly, Pimp Lucious gets a similar concerned call from an unidentified woman (who may have gotten "The Package" from Big Man, and subsequently passed it to Pimp Lucious).
All in all, Chuck, Rufus, Cathy, Sylvester, Gwendolyn, James, Bridget, Big Man, and Pimp Lucious all could have been infected with the Package. Had Pimp Lucious been infected with "the package" (slang for HIV), he could have passed it to any or all of the hookers he pimps.
Additionally, although there is no confirmation of this, because he is the only pimp the story has focused on thus far, the watcher might assume that Lucious was the pimp who gave Tina her nervous twitch when she was working for him. Were this the case, Tina, her baby, Roxanne, and Twan could all be at risk.
However, there are a few facts in the hip hopera that can halt the chain:
| Chart (2005) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| US Billboard Hot 100[4] | 22 |
| US Billboard Pop Songs[5] | 38 |
| US Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Songs[6] | 5 |
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