R. Kelly- Black Panties (2013)

Why did I review the album?  I told my friend I would do it, and I am fond of R. Kelly’s music

Did I like it? No

Will I listen again? No

I think this experience was doomed to fail from the onset. My expectation of the album and Kelly’s were clearly different. I expected classic 90’s Kelly or adult R&B that he’s favored in the two previous albums. But, maybe that’s the reason he’s wandered in this direction. Kelly’s been “in the game” for 20 years now, so he’s bound to try other things. He transitioned from R&B to a slightly more mainstream sound. Then experimented with a largely gospel sound that transitioned into adult R&B career. This might be the next phase in Kelly’s career. So, I shouldn’t be angry with him, but I wish I knew his intention beforehand.

In my defense, this album delivers sleaze by the bucket load. If this kind of music you like, then you’ll love this one, but if not, it’ll be a struggle to get through this offering from Kelly.

My Favs

3.  I have no idea (that’s not the name of the song, I seriously couldn’t find a third song)

2. Shut Up  

1. All the way

Overall Rating: 1/5 Spins

The Good 

Shut Up- This song reminds me of Prayer Changes because of the religious tones and the structure of the song. It’s also a lower quality version of Do What You Want. Both songs are addressing critics of the artists and the songs are essentially telling those critics to Shut Up. I think Gaga’s version is far cleverer and flows better than this attempt. Kelly decides to sing-talk. It’s a practice I don’t like, but I can tolerate it if it flows. This one doesn’t because he decides to sing, then reverts to sing-talking without warning. Also, something about literally telling everyone to shut up bothered me. I couldn’t help imagining two ten year olds fighting and calling each other names. It felt a bit childish.

Still, the song isn’t all bad or it would not have landed on my favs list. I do appreciate the religious tones and this is one of the most R&B-like songs on the album. 3/5    

The Bad

Cookies- This is Lil’ Wayne type music on STEROIDS. It’s super crude and not what I want to hear from an R. Kelly album (or anyone for that matter). I’m not a prude person either, but songs like these serve no purpose but to spread sleaze to the masses. At least pop, as dry as it is, does not rely on that; just sound. I can respect that more than this. If this were the only song that suffered from this, I’d disregard it, but more than 75% of the album suffers from this problem. 1/5   

Other’s Thoughts

The album has received an average of 3.8 on Amazon with 170 5-star reviews and 32 4-star reviews, so my opinion is certainly not the majority. Even though I did not like it, doesn’t mean you’ll have the same reaction.