R Kelly - Double Up
|
List Price: Our Price: $4.48 You Save: $4.51 (50%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $2.14 (click here) Category: Music CD See more new music releases 
|
|---|
Buy this Music CD at online store in your country
Canadian Music Store
Canadian Music Store
Free Music Notes for Double Up
Free Music Review: HE'S THE ONE, WORLD'S GREATEST!!
Hit: 5 Stars
THERE IS NOT ANOTHER ONE LIKE HIM!!! HE IS UNTOUCHABLE!!! THERE IS REALLY NOT ONE WORD THAT CAN DESCRIBE HIM!!!Free Music Review: good CD
Hit: 5 Stars
R Kelly has more musical talent than a whole lot of folks out there wanting to be singers. I liked the CD.Free Music Review: very good
Hit: 5 Stars
don't usually buy this type of music. I think the songs are engaging. worth a buy.Free Music Review: The King of... Hip-Hop or R&B? Solid album...
Hit: 4 Stars
R. Kelly is a musical genius; he's also a flawed man. With allegations of underage sexual encounters and an alledged sex-tape as well, Kelly never convinces us he is the "Christian" man who sang such inspirational songs as "I Believe I Can Fly" or "U Saved Me" and "Prayer Changes" from his HAPPY PEOPLE/U SAVED ME double disc. What makes the inspirational side of Kelly hard to accept might be because he will praise God out of one side of his mouth ("Rise Up" isn't an outright 'gospel' number but it is inspirational) and then curse like a sailor (the extremely explicit, controversial "Real Talk") or sexualize any and everything (on DOUBLE UP, it's the "Zoo" that gets the sexualization). But, as a listener, it isn't my job to criticize Kelly as a man or whatever his status as a church-going man is; it is my job only to critique his latest outfit,
DOUBLE UP, which is a hip-hop album for the most part as opposed to sensual sounding R&B. DOUBLE UP is much harder than any other R. Kelly album, in more ways than one. It is easily the most explicit album that Kells has ever made, saturated with the 'f-bomb' throughout. Also, there have never been so many guest spots from rappers on any of Kell's other affairs. Personally, I thought DOUBLE UP might be another misstep for Kelly, following the forgettable TP.3, which should've been phenomenal following the hype of "Trapped in the Closet". However, DOUBLE UP is actually Kelly's best album for awhile, even though it sadly sheds Kelly's sensual, R&B facade. Sure, there are a couple of straight, R&B tracks, but mostly, the album serves to celebrate Kelly's rekindled success, which has been in the area of hip-hop where his presence has helped to propel singles "That's That S***" (Snoop Dogg) and the more popular "Go Getta" (Young Jeezy). If you think about DOUBLE UP in that regard, it isn't so far-fetched, though part of you knowing Kelly is closer to 40 than 20 does make you think, why is he doing this? But that question need not be asked since DOUBLE UP works nearly perfectly except for a few ridiculous misses.
The album opens with the Swizz Beatz featured intro "The Champ" in which Kelly brags about how he's the King of R&B. Sure, it copies what all the rappers do on the intro of their albums, but you do have to think, is Kelly the King of R&B? Perhaps. "Double Up" is one of my personal favorites, in which Kelly and "Uncle Snoop" talk about going to the club and having two girls (not just one but TWO) on their arm. It uses a stunning classic soul sample and is one of the best title-tracks of any album of 2007. King? Two tracks in yes. Continuing the hip-hop flair, which is a bit surprising at first, "Trying To Get A Number" is excellent as well, once again featuring updated production under Kelly and an excellent collaboration with St. Louis rap standout Nelly. Despite being another success, you do become a bit inquisitive about if R. Kelly really is trying to get a number - especially with wife and kids? Anyways... "Get Dirty" is just as strong as "Double Up" or "Trying To Get A Number" where Kelly proudly proclaims "Hey, Hey/ I'm HollyHOOD..." Chamillionaire joins the singer (or pop-rapper in this case!) with an excellent verse. Maybe Kelly is the king of hip-hop as opposed to R&B. Oh well, it works either way.
A couple of luke-warm tracks poke their ugly head up at this point. Shockingingly, they are all Kelly solo tracks, making you wonder if hip-hop is truly where Kelly should reside. "Leave Your Name" hearkens the worst of TP3 RELOADED while "Freaky In the Club" is only slightly better than the ill-conceived "Slow Wind" from the 2005 album. Only the incredibly over-the-top "Zoo", which features animals sounds mind you (elephants, monkeys!) is truly Kelly back in his old form - well for the most part. "I'm A Flirt (Remix)" feat. T.I. & T-Pain brings the King back after a brief hiatus. This was definitly one of the Summer's biggest hits; I kind of like the version absent here that features Bow-Wow and Kelly, but this one is solid as well. "Same Girl" features the other big R&B superstar, Usher for a brilliant duet in which it seems that the theme of "doubling up" reappears (genius Kelly, genius!) The most talked about track from DOUBLING UP (besides "Zoo")has to be the controversial "Real Talk". True to its name, the singer refers to women as "b*tches" and saturates "motherf**ker" like it's nothing. It is a well concieved track, similar to his recitative style that popularized "Trapped in the Closet", but it maybe a bit too controversial for the R.Kelly fan-base. He does similar later with the more accessible, "Best Friend" featuring Keyshia Cole and rap-producer Polow Da Don, which has it's share of the explicit itself. Again, is Kelly the King? Probably.
"Hook It Up" is a standout featuring Huey ("Pop, Lock, Drop It") while "Rock Star" is one of the best collaborative ventures of 2007 (features Ludacris and Kid Rock). After "Best Friend", Kells pulls off his excellent solo hip-hop influence track "Rollin'", which is easily one of the best of DOUBLE UP. "Sweet Tooth" isn't bad, though not as great as "Havin' A Baby", an unexpected inspirational track absent of sex. It is very appropriate as the penultimate track to Kell's beautiful, chilling "Rise Up", in tribute and memory of the Virginia Tech victims. The bonus track "Ringtone" is forgettable, but by the time you've reached midway through this album, you know that the talented, though oversexed-freaky Kelly is back, moreso than the tepid TP3 RELOADED, which was only good for a couple of hits ("In the Kitchen", "Trapped in the Closet", "Remote Control", "T-Shirt" among a couple of others). 4 Stars in my eyes.
Free Music Review: Just another day at the office...
Hit: 4 Stars
4 of 5 Stars
The most difficult task a music lover and follower of R&B/Hip-Hop has when listening to the latest and greatest R.Kelly album is identifying which one of his multiple personalities will be the center of focus for his creative genius.
All of them have provided us with #1 hits and albums and all of them offer enough material to fill a double-disc project and then some.
In case you have a hard time remembering:
R.Kelly: The "bread-and-butter". He will bump and grind you and make you want to wax your Jeep!
The R: Smooth and silky. Like an assembly line at a Chocolate Factory.
Robert Kelly: The more human side. Spiritual, inspirational and uplifting.
The Weatherman: Put on your dancing shoes and "step to the left--step to the right".
Kellz: Hip-Hop with a vengeance! A fusion of smooth and calculated R-and-B with a shot of hip-hop.
His latest effort at making our Jeep speakers burst and our sexual energy peak is Double Up; where the personality "Kellz" runs wild. The artist who invented sing-rapping gives us flow and energy that some artists who classify themselves as rappers can rarely do. The flow between whatever catchy and infectious chorus the R in R&B has decided to infect our minds with is so calculated, so smooth and so rhythmic that on some phrases he doesn't even bother rhyming or connecting the phrases! But at that point, who cares?! R.Kelly's latest literally "has you at hello".
The system that this album works off of has become a staple for the 2000's era of R.Kelly releases. Why create an album based on each personality when you can include ALL of R.Kelly's platinum selling personas at different points in the album? Once he does this, all other R&B singers might as well pack their bags.
R.Kelly brings us lustful and dripping sexual metaphors that which can only come from a man who calls his unit a " giant rocket full of fuel" are found in cuts like Sex Planet, The Zoo and Sweet Tooth. They leave your leg shaking and eyes rolled back for the complete four to five minutes.
Kellz unleashes beasts of radio and windows-down-anthems like Im'a Flirt (Remix), Double Up, Rollin' and Hook It Up. Not only can these be found at your local club but they can also be found endlessly echoing in your head days after your first listen.
Somewhere in the midst of this musical orgasm you find yourself in the Caribbean dancing on the beach with cuts like Freaky in the Club and I Like Love. The Weatherman's taste for the international is only complimented by his taste for a Pina Colada!
The R in R&B's lyrical operas such as Best Friend, Same Girl and Real Talk are in a genre of their own. No one in modern music has been able to construct, compose, story-tell and touch audiences like R.Kelly's sinful and guilty pleasure soap opera music.
After sleeping off the club, sex and fights with his girlfriend we find Robert Kelly serenading us about the birth of his child in Having a Baby. Soon after that we are all driven to Rise Up out of the terrible Virginia Tech tragedy like only R.Kelly inspirational music can make us do.
A song that currently has no real R.Kelly personality tagged to it and is by far the most standout track is Rockstar. This monster of a song featuring Ludacris, Kid Rock and Kellz himself leaves your jaw somewhere by your all-white Air Forice Ones. The haunting electric guitar beat laced with Kellz sing-rapping and Luda's taste for the sexually outrageous is enough. But couple that with Kid Rock's 80's power ballad verse and ubiquitous screaming and you have somewhere R&B and Hip-Hop has NEVER gone before...and would be inclined to say it should go more often.
Double Up is new, fresh, innovative, constructive, risky, calculated and a top seller.
But that's just what R.Kelly does and has done for more than 15 years.