The wheels of justice grind for Robert Kelly just how he likes it: Real slow.
June marks five years since the notorious R&B singer was hit with child pornography charges, and he still awaits trial. Since then, the court of popular opinion convicted him for his alleged activities, yet he's also crafted two number-one singles, appeared on six Top 20 songs and guested on high-profile albums by Snoop Dogg, Young Jeezy and Ludacris.
Kelly's eleventh studio album "Double Up" attempts to capitalize on these recent achievements with songs divided between R&B and hip-hop. But despite what's obviously a fruitful time in his career, Kelly still comes out crying on opener "The Champ": "Some would like to see me: ball and chain/But I'm a child of God, so my destiny's ordained."
He knows that's not what people really came to hear, and obliges with a string of thinly-veiled metaphors for sex (including "The Zoo," "Sweet Tooth" and the not-so-thinly-veiled "Sex Planet"). Their pace can't compare with the more exciting rap-tinged numbers like "Rock Star" (with Ludacris and Kid Rock) and hit single "I'm a Flirt" (with T.I. and T-Pain), but they're exponentially more hilarious.
As usual, Kelly contributes a track that spins beauty from tragedy (although they grow scarcer with each release). Unfortunately, "Rise Up," dedicated to Virginia Tech, sounds recycled and out of place, especially since it follows the album's most shamelessly hilarious track, "Sex Planet," which details Kelly's "rocket full of fuel" and trips to "planet Uranus." Even by R. Kelly standards, it's an inappropriately bawdy way to set up a song about great loss.
"Double Up" retains Kelly's guilty pleasure flavor, but there's still no accounting for his bad taste.
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