Rating:
Genre:
R&B
Release Date: 05/29/2007
Like most of its predecessors,
R. Kelly's eleventh album is stuffed to the gills, with 18-plus songs clocking in at 76 minutes (or longer, depending on which bonus track[s] your edition includes.) And if
Double Up is, inevitably, far from flawless, the level of novelty and listenability
Kelly manages to sustain for that duration is quite a feat. It makes this his best full-length in years -- arguably his best of the decade -- especially when you consider that its high points -- most notably the singles
"I'm a Flirt [Remix]" and
"Same Girl" -- rank among the licentious Chicagoan's very finest. Yes,
Kelly's familiar, almost cartoonishly overstated brand of sex-obsessed misogyny is as rampant here as his increasingly eccentric humor -- more so than ever, on both counts. So if you're not of a disposition to stomach the 40-year-old (whose still-pending child pornography trial was set to commence several months after the album's release, before being delayed yet again) boasting about his plot to seduce a pair of "freaky" first cousins for a
ménage à trois (in the title track), or warning listeners to steer their girlfriends clear of his restlessly prowling libido (in
"Flirt": "the moral of this story is 'cuff your chick'"), this could be a painfully long and humorless listen, or worse. But cut the man a little slack, at least on record -- or allow him the indulgence of his already comically blatant perversity (at least he doesn't present himself as someone who expects to be taken very seriously) and it's either an absurd explosion of standard
R&B tropes (nightclub bangers, baby-makin' slow jams, overwrought breakup songs) or simply a treasure trove of questionable-taste
comedy gold. Actually, those aforementioned scenarios are just the tip of the iceberg, strictly routine in comparison to extended X-rated metaphors -- in the vein of
"In the Kitchen" or
"Ignition" (the original, not the remix) -- involving jungle animals (the brilliantly nutty, if somewhat misleadingly titled
"The Zoo"), dessert (
"Sweet Tooth"), and interstellar travel (
"Sex Planet"), or hammy, convoluted mini-epics like
"Same Girl," the one-sided argument
"Real Talk," and the multi-player melodrama
"Best Friend" (the closest this album comes to the preposterous serialized histrionics of the apparently endless
"Trapped in the Closet" saga.) Subject matter aside (lets not even get into the incongruously inspirational Virginia Tech paean
"Rise Up"), there's no denying that
Kells is in top form production-wise. His occasional attempts at trend-jumping have somewhat mixed results -- the turgid
metal guitars of
"Rock Star," featuring
Kid Rock; the menacing Southern-style synths of
"Rollin'"; the fine but innocuous Caribbean-tinged
"Freaky in the Club" -- though it doesn't help that these are also the album's least inspired moments conceptually and melodically. On the other hand, he cops 2007's production gimmick
du jour, vocodered
R&B vocals (à la
T-Pain), to excellent effect on
"Leave Your Name," a hilarious slice of lifestyle-boasting-as-overly-detailed-voice mail-message. But when he sticks to his somehow perennially fresh style of lush, laid-back, semi-organic, mid-tempo grooves, he's both unmistakable and untouchable. Even the album's parade of A-list guest stars (among them
Snoop Dogg,
Nelly,
Chamillionaire,
T.I.,
Ludacris, and
Keyshia Cole), though it does help to keep things interesting, never threatens to overshadow the musical and vocal smoothness, and perversely compelling lyricism of the main event.
~K. Ross Hoffman, All Music Guide
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Number of reviews: 1
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V
from Chicago, IL
Worst album he's put out...
That's pretty much it... it's the worst album he's put out. Doesn't sound anything like the R. Kelly we've come to know and love. Too many guest appearances - some of the songs sound like the other artists' songs, with R. just doing the hooks. The music itself seems forced - like he's trying to sound like everything else thats saturating the music scene nowadays. He even digitizes his voice on more than one occasion. (T-Pain, anyone?) Then there's the CONTENT. R. Kelly is almost 40 years old, if not 40 already. How long is he gonna keep singing about being with young freaks in the club? Sleeping with everybody? Sex this, diamonds that. N**ga this, B**ch that. Pimp this, Ho that... come on man. (In true R. fashion, he tries to offset all of that with 'Rise Up', dedicated to the tragic events at Virginia Tech earler this year.) I'm EXTREMELY disappointed with this album, which does absolutely nothing for his image or career, except hurt it. Full of "Trapped in the Closet"-type hooks and laughably corny lyrics, (tell me 'The Zoo' didn't make you giggle when you listened to it) it's the first CD that he's done that really has NO SONG that truly stands out - unless you count the 'I'm A Flirt Remix' that I'm sure you've heard at LEAST 30 times today alone. Short list of highlights include: Double Up (alright for an intro song), Tryin' to Get a Number feat. Nelly (club-type), Hook It Up, and Rock Star feat. Ludacris and Kid Rock (between this and 'Flirt' for best song, and Kellz isn't even the most prominent artist on this song). R - if you're reading this (doubtful): STAY YOUR OLD ASS OUT OF THE CLUBS, kick a few of those females out of the bedroom so you can CONCENTRATE and get BACK in the studio for your true fans, the ones that were with you since Public Announcement days. We're not 18 anymore. You're not Chris Brown. (lol) Word around camp is U fell off...
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