The Alicia Keys Situation: My Two Cents

Ok, so I’m super late to the party. But that’s never stopped me from putting in my two cents. G. just happened to mention that Alicia Keys was pregnant which led to a discussion about the ex- Mrs. Swizz Beatz and the open letter to A. Keys that she posted on twitter. Apparently, this was posted about two years ago and I somehow missed it. First, I must make it clear that I don’t condone anyone who enters into a relationship with someone else who they know to be married, celebrity or not. I do not abide cheating on the part of any of the parties involved. Still, I took issue with some of what Mashonda had to say.

First, this “open letter” is not something that I nor anyone else needed to see. I don’t know why she thought that A. Key’s tweets had anything to do with her but since she did and it’s out there, I also take issue with that fact that she seems to make this an issue solely between herself and A. Keys. Where is Swizz Beatz’ responsibility in all this? He was the one who made vows to Mashonda but yet, all of her ire is directed to the so-called other woman. As women, we sometimes seem to think that it’s the other woman who should bear the brunt of our pain and while I feel that they do have some responsibility, the man who committed themselves to us has even more so. Unless some woman drugged him, tied him down and raped him, any man can open his mouth and tell a trifling woman to back up off of him.

I also take issue with the fact that Mashonda seems to think that she and A. Keys need to get along in order for Swizz to be involved in his son’s life. In a perfect world, that would be peachy but I just don't think that she should make that a condition for them to be able to raise their son together. She has no right and who really knows if A. Keys will still be in his life 5 years from now anyway? If things do not work out, someone else will take her place. If Swizz is good to his son, he has a right to be in his life. It has nothing to do with anyone else, not A. Keys or anyone else who might take her place.

I get that in light of her personal situation the types of songs that Alicia Keys sing about seem to paint her a as hypocrite. But apparently, I have a much easier time of separating the artist from the person. Earlier this year, I went to see A. Keys in concert and thoroughly enjoyed myself. And yes, I admit to being titilated when Swizz made a brief appearance on stage. What can I say? I centainly didn't spend the three hours being mad at A. Keys for whatever's going on in her personal life. But I have friends who said that they no longer like Alicia Keys' music because she is a trifling broad. Hmm, I can’t remember what they said about R. Kelly and his penchant for peeing on teenage girls. We have this tendency to put celebrities on a pedestal and when they dare to fall, we give it to them hard! And maybe, rightly so. We like to think that they maintain their celebrity status because of us, the fans, and that we have rights to that image. I don’t think it’s worth arguing that point but I will say that we have no rights to the person underneath it all. At the end of the day, we answer only to ourselves and to God.