R. Kelly f/ Snoop Dogg - "Double Up" (mp3)
The release of Double Up has kind of become the occasion for a public referendum on R. Kelly's career, specifically the element of humor in his music, and where everyone stands on him being a genius or a clown, or an ingenius clown. Last week in the City Paper, Jess summed up the different sides of the argument pretty well, including Rich four four's take, which is trenchant if more negative about the album than I'm willing to be. At the very least, Double Up is a much better album than his last one, TP3: Reloaded, which, aside from the polarizing "Trapped In The Closet" finale, had maybe 2 good songs, and a bunch of bad reggae/reggaeton/dancehall pastiches.
I'll admit that I can live without the rote metaphor tracks like "The Zoo" and "Sex Planet," although, as I said on the Stylus Jukebox, R. indulging in that formula on his worst day is still better than 50 Cent comparing his dick to Six Flags. Most of the best stuff on the album still works on the level of plain old R&B, although it still occasionally works when he gets high concept. I mean, I don't think it's possible not to find "Leave Your Name" at least a little funny, whether or not it reminds you of George Costanza's outgoing message. But that song's autotuning, and the subtle vocoder textures on the backup vocals on "Double Up" that might be my favorite sound on the album, make me wonder whether the guy is hanging out with T-Pain just to make him feel okay when he bites his style.
Ultimately, it's about whether the music's good, and lately with R. it has been, although it seems like he's going for the same Mr. Song-Of-The-Week status he attained in 2003 and matching that year for quantity but not so much in quality. He's still got a few months to try and top it, though. I'm torn on whether I even want to hear the umpteen new chapters of "Trapped In The Closet" that he's supposed to drop next month, though. I have to admit I got pretty caught up in the excitement of that stuff in 2005, but even in my City Paper piece, my approach was kind of dry and clinical, if only to avoid most of the hysterical snickering that was going on around it at the time. Unless he miraculously pulls the "Trapped" plotline off the rails and fulfills the promise of its initial chapters, or makes some remix appearances that are better than the overrated-ass "Make It Rain" verse, I'm thinking it'll be the straightforward tracks like "I'm A Flirt" and "Double Up" and "Hook It Up" that will have made him one of my favorite R&B artists of 2007. I mean, who else is fucking with him, as an auteur/songwriter or as a star? Who else we got, Ne-Yo? Dude's hitting a sophomore slump and just reinforcing that he really is as boring as he initially seemed, despite all the "no, really, I'm a sex addict" lyrics insisting otherwise. R. Kelly doesn't have to try nearly as hard to come across as the endlessly creative, hypersexual superstar that he is, but he works so much harder at the actual music that he'll be cracking the code of his 40th songwriting gimmick while Ne-Yo is merely writing the 40th version of "So Sick."
The release of Double Up has kind of become the occasion for a public referendum on R. Kelly's career, specifically the element of humor in his music, and where everyone stands on him being a genius or a clown, or an ingenius clown. Last week in the City Paper, Jess summed up the different sides of the argument pretty well, including Rich four four's take, which is trenchant if more negative about the album than I'm willing to be. At the very least, Double Up is a much better album than his last one, TP3: Reloaded, which, aside from the polarizing "Trapped In The Closet" finale, had maybe 2 good songs, and a bunch of bad reggae/reggaeton/dancehall pastiches.
I'll admit that I can live without the rote metaphor tracks like "The Zoo" and "Sex Planet," although, as I said on the Stylus Jukebox, R. indulging in that formula on his worst day is still better than 50 Cent comparing his dick to Six Flags. Most of the best stuff on the album still works on the level of plain old R&B, although it still occasionally works when he gets high concept. I mean, I don't think it's possible not to find "Leave Your Name" at least a little funny, whether or not it reminds you of George Costanza's outgoing message. But that song's autotuning, and the subtle vocoder textures on the backup vocals on "Double Up" that might be my favorite sound on the album, make me wonder whether the guy is hanging out with T-Pain just to make him feel okay when he bites his style.
Ultimately, it's about whether the music's good, and lately with R. it has been, although it seems like he's going for the same Mr. Song-Of-The-Week status he attained in 2003 and matching that year for quantity but not so much in quality. He's still got a few months to try and top it, though. I'm torn on whether I even want to hear the umpteen new chapters of "Trapped In The Closet" that he's supposed to drop next month, though. I have to admit I got pretty caught up in the excitement of that stuff in 2005, but even in my City Paper piece, my approach was kind of dry and clinical, if only to avoid most of the hysterical snickering that was going on around it at the time. Unless he miraculously pulls the "Trapped" plotline off the rails and fulfills the promise of its initial chapters, or makes some remix appearances that are better than the overrated-ass "Make It Rain" verse, I'm thinking it'll be the straightforward tracks like "I'm A Flirt" and "Double Up" and "Hook It Up" that will have made him one of my favorite R&B artists of 2007. I mean, who else is fucking with him, as an auteur/songwriter or as a star? Who else we got, Ne-Yo? Dude's hitting a sophomore slump and just reinforcing that he really is as boring as he initially seemed, despite all the "no, really, I'm a sex addict" lyrics insisting otherwise. R. Kelly doesn't have to try nearly as hard to come across as the endlessly creative, hypersexual superstar that he is, but he works so much harder at the actual music that he'll be cracking the code of his 40th songwriting gimmick while Ne-Yo is merely writing the 40th version of "So Sick."
Labels: hip hop
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on Sunday, June 10, 2007 at 7:15 AM.
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