R. Kelly Misses with 'Double Up'

As if 'Trapped in the Closet' wasn't bad enough, R. Kelly has hit a new low. With his new album 'Double Up,' Kelly will have many wondering why they ever bought any of his albums. A quick scan of the song titles ought to be enough to make you put it back on the shelf. But some of us remember R. Kelly as the singer that could move us with an inspirational song or amaze us with a soulful ballad. That R. Kelly is long gone.

The problem with 'Double Up' is quite simple; too much hip hop. Nearly all of the songs consist of the same formula; R. Kelly singing for two verses over a generic hip hop beat and topping that off with a guest rapper. The guest rappers are plentiful on this album. Nelly, T.I., Ludacris and many others drop by to give R. Kelly a helping hand. Nobody, however, could save this album from being a disaster.

'Step up out the club with a dizzy head,' Kelly says in the opening line of the album's title track. Other brilliant lines on this album include Kelly singing 'Like Jurassic Park, except I'm your Sexasaurus' and 'Girl let me see your body go la la, now back it up and make it go boom-bah.' It makes one wonder if Kelly had that dizzy head feeling during the recording of this album.

There are a few songs on this album that break away from the hip-hop formula. 'Real Talk' is cut from the same cloth as 'Trapped in the Closet' and has R. Kelly pleading with his girlfriend to believe that he hasn't been unfaithful. 'Rise Up' is a tribute to the students of Virginia Tech. However, it sounds more like a tribute to R. Kelly's 1996 hit 'I Believe I Can Fly.'

The strongest track on the album is 'Rock Star.' It is an interesting collaboration with Ludacris. It has a guitar driven rap beat and has Ludacris and Kelly going back and forth about their partying exploits. Although it's the strongest track on the album, it's not anywhere near the quality of Kelly's mid-nineties work.

One can't help but feel let down by 'Double Up.' The man that once gave us songs like 'If I Could Turn Back the Hands of Time,' 'Down Low,' and 'Step In the Name of Love' is now making up fake dinosaur names in his songs. It's a little hard to accept, but the whole 'Trapped in the Closet' fiasco should have given us ample warning that R. Kelly had lost his magic.

Final Verdict: Avoid this album.Buy From iTunes: Rock Star (only if you have to hear one song from this album).