R. Kelly's Standing as Hit-Maker Debated Amid New Kendrick Lyrics

R. Kelly's legacy is being fiercely debated amid new Kendrick Lamar lyrics that touch on the now-disgraced/convicted R&B legend -- question being ... did he make good music???

That's what Twitter's arguing about right now, this after somebody apparently responded to one of Kenny's new songs on his album, 'Mr. Morale and The Big Steppers,' in which he suggests his SO hypocritically still listens to Kelly's music -- despite, well, everything.

Here's the original tweet from Thursday that set this whole convo off -- the user writes, "I wish y’all would stop saying everybody listens to R. kelly music secretly like no we don’t 😭😭😭 i promise you the music isn’t that good."

They went on to add ... "And if you gotta listen to it in secret that means you know it’s wrong so like where are we going from here."

The track apparently referenced is "We Cry Together," featuring Taylour Paige in a heated rap argument with Kendrick. At one point, she says ... "You the reason Harvey Weinstein had to see his conclusion //You the reason R. Kelly can't recognize that he's abusive."

To that, Ken responds in the song ... "Man, shut the f*** up, we all know you still playin' his music // Said I'm tired of these emotional-ass, ungrateful-ass bitches // Fake innocent, fake feminist, stop pretendin' // Y'all sentiments ain't realer than what you defendin'."

Back to the tweet ... tons of people responded by saying that denying R. Kelly made "good" music is absurd -- frankly, the guy has the accolades and the writing/producing credits to prove it, objectively. Fact is, yeah -- R. Kelly was without a doubt a bona fide hit-maker.

There's no shortage of stars he's written/produced for and/or with (or in many cases, all 3) -- the list consists of names like Aaliyah, B2K, Diddy, Toni Braxton, Lady Gaga, Sparkle, Maxwell, MICHAEL JACKSON, Nick Cannon, Ginuwine, The Isley Bros., WHITNEY HOUSTON, Usher, Chris Brown, Jennifer Hudson, Pitbull, Justin Bieber  ... and many more.

Of course, this doesn't even touch his own personal list of hits that were wildly popular when released -- not the least of which includes 'Ignition (Remix),' 'Bump n' Grind,' 'Step in the Name of Love,' 'I Believe I Can Fly,' and countless others.

What this seems to boil down to is ... can two things be true at once, and more importantly -- can we separate the art from the artist? If so, there's simply no way anyone could argue R. Kelly didn't make good music in his heyday ... and yes, he has also done terrible things.