Unlike the previous two tracks that had Kelly upfront and the guests laying low in the background providing chorus support, this one comes off more like a collabo, with Nelly dropping the first verse followed by Kelly. It's a slithering club swerve that has Nelly talking about enticing betties with his bling and striving to get those digits. "Tryin to Get a Number," featuring Nelly, is pretty self-explanatory. Snoop kicks in about 3-minutes deep and lets loose with his patented lazy swagger. But since it's obvious that most folks don't sink into lyrics too much these days, the beat is slinky and swervy and definitely a slow burn for the club set looking to unwind after a hard night of sweat and tequila shots. Snoop Dogg dips into the title track wherein the old, familiar Kelly returns, talking about hitting the club with two chicks with dizzy legs, rollin' in his ride with "a freak in front and a freak in back" and all the bits about him having found God and repented for his sins in "The Champ" seem to have fallen on deaf ears. Surprisingly, the braggadocio nature of the track resonates and elevates beyond his normal sexcapades. Swizz Beats kicks things off on the lead-in track "The Champ." The synth ripples sound not unlike something you would hear at a boxing match when the favored pugilist enters the ring, then it flips into faux symphonic swooshes as Kelly swoons and croons about his travails (he even compares himself to MJ). There's only one thing to do and that is…double up."Īs is often the case with artists of Kelly's stature, his latest album features a rogue's gallery of guests. So, where does that leave us in 2007 with Double Up, Kelly's 10th full-length release and the follow-up to 2005's TP.3 Reloaded which contained the most perplexing of all smash hits "Trapped In The Closet" Chapters 1-5? Well, Kelly has been promoting his new joint thusly: Sixteen years. But who am I to judge? This fare seems to resonate with the general populace who keep snatching up Kelly's offerings as if they were going out of style (which they so obviously are not). Many a Kelly tune, when broken down into prose or poetic verse, ends up reading like the juvenile rants of under (or over, depending on what the case may be) sexed teens stuck in drama camp. The problem I have with him is his lyrical fortitude, or lack thereof. I think the man is definitely gifted in terms of beat attitude and his ability to craft catchy grooves is pretty much unparalleled in this day and age. The album has sold 1,000,000+ copies in the US to date.Now I'm not one to hate on Kelly. The album debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200, making this his fifth album to debut at #1. On Jit entered the UK Album Chart at #10. The edited version became available on In Haiti, with a bonus track version available a day later. On May 25, 2007, four days before the album's release, the explicit version of the album became available for purchase on iTunes. Kelly's newest single is "Freaky in the Club". Prior to the album's release, three songs were leaked onto the Internet: second single "Same Girl", which features Usher "Rise Up", a North American exclusive single, which is a tribute to the victims of the Virginia Tech massacre in April also making an early appearance was a song titled "Blow It Up", at first supposed to be featured on the album but absent from the final tracklisting, mainly due to the inappropriate mood it would have created because of the presence of the Virginia Tech shooting tribute song "Rise Up." "Rock Star," which features Ludacris & Kid Rock, was released as the album's third single on September 4. Kelly stated on his YouTube video channel, that due to the success of his current collaborations with rappers like Young Jeezy and Ludacris, he thought, "why not put some of that magic on my album?" He stated that 70 percent of the record will be uptempo but he assured fans that "there will be some slow jams on there." The album features guest appearances by Swizz Beatz, Snoop Dogg, Nelly, Chamillionaire, T.I., T-Pain, Usher, Huey, Ludacris, Kid Rock, Polow da Don, Keyshia Cole, with production by Kelly, The Runners, Khao and Polow da Don. The first single off the album, "I'm a Flirt Remix", which features T.I., and T-Pain, attained prominence on the Billboard Top 40 charts, peaking at #1 on the Hot Rap Tracks chart. ''Double Up'' is the eighth studio album by R&B singer R. Pulse Of The Early Brain (Switched On Volume 5) Ī Primer Of Holy Words White Trash, Two Heebs and a Bean Īrrow: 10th Anniversary