The title track “Double Up� features Snoop Dogg. It’s funky, bouncy and mid-tempo. Kelly’s on the prowl, but not just for one girl, he plans to Double Up.
MUSIC REVIEW
R. Kelly returns with his eagerly awaited eighth album “Double Up” on May 29th. It features 19 tracks and appearances from the who’s who of the music industry.
Despite Kelly’s legal woes, he still manages to create albums year in and year out. His creativity doesn’t seem to be suppressed as we hear him wandering out of his comfort zone a few times and tries new things from Rock to Dirty South sounds.
Listeners will be met by a very sexuality explicit, club hopping, and party loving R. Kelly who waits no time in declaring he is the champ on the opening track which features Swizz Beats, titled “the champ.”
The title track “Double Up” features Snoop Dogg. It’s funky, bouncy and mid-tempo. Kelly’s on the prowl, but not just for one girl, he plans to Double Up. “Get Dirty” features Chamillionaire. It’s heavily influenced by the Dirty South movement current dominating the airwaves.
Once again Kelly is at a club looking for a dirty girl to talk home. “Freaky In The Club” is once again based in a club. The interesting thing about this track is it’s old school instrumental which derives from Betty Wright’s classic, “Tonight Is The Night.”
“I’m A Flirt” is already doing damage on the radio waves—it also peaked at no. 12 on the Billboard hot100. It features TI and T Pain, produced by Lil Ronnie. Lil Ronnie again lends his hand in production on “Same Girl” which features Usher. Two heavy weights of R&B teaming up on a track was always bound to produce something great and it did not disappoint, as both singers realized that they were dating the same girl.
No R. Kelly album would be complete without any slow jams. “Real Talk” is a slow jam in which Kelly defends himself against his girl’s accusations of infidelity. Kelly talks in this track as opposed to sing—similar to what he did with the mini opera “In The Closet.”
“Rock Star” is laced with heavy rock guitar sounds, slow tempo with Ludacris and Kid Rock rapping over it as Kelly sings. “Best Friend” is another slow jam that features Kiesha Cole and Polow Da Don. Kelly is in jail and gets a visit from his girl and his best friend. They get confronted by Kelly as he accuses them of cheating with each other as he notices that his best friend is wearing the shirt that his girl had bought him. It’s a cleverly structured track.
Kelly also sings about the joys of looking forward to parenthood when he sings “Having A Baby.” He also dedicated a track to the victims of the Virginia Tech shootings when he sang “Rise Up.” This album sees Kelly trying to be more versatile musically as he dabbles in Rock and Dirty South Hip Hop sounds, but the lyrical content takes on the overriding plot of Kelly on the prowl in some club.
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