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Black Panties

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Black Panties
Studio album by
R. Kelly
ReleasedDecember 6, 2013 (2013-12-06)
Recorded2011–13
Genre
Length49:09
LabelRCA
Producer
  • R. Kelly
  • David Anthony
  • Mario Bakovic
  • Cardo
  • Christopher Clark
  • Daniel Coriglie
  • Destin
  • Lamar Edwards
  • Donnie Lyle
  • Cheryl A. Mack
  • Bigg Makk
  • John McGee
  • Beat Mechanix
  • Marz
  • Mike Free
  • Nineteen85
  • T. Newsome
  • Rich Nice
  • Dennis-Manuel Peters
  • Rahk
  • Darrick "Devyne" Stephens
  • Chef Tone
  • Win
  • DJ Mustard
R. Kelly chronology
Write Me Back
(2012) 		Black Panties
(2013) 		The Buffet
(2015)
Deluxe version cover
Singles from Black Panties
  1. "My Story"
    Released: July 23, 2013
  2. "Genius"
    Released: September 17, 2013
  3. "Cookie"
    Released: November 25, 2013
  4. "Legs Shakin'"
    Released: March 11, 2014

Black Panties is the twelfth studio album by American R&B singer R. Kelly. It was released in the United States on December 6, 2013, by RCA Records.[1][2][3][4][5] The album features guest appearances from Ludacris, 2 Chainz, Young Jeezy, Migos, Kelly Rowland, Juicy J and Future.[6]

Background

[edit]

Black Panties, as says Kelly, "is the new 12 Play (1993)", and that it is different from his previous albums Love Letter (2010) and Write Me Back (2012).[7] In October 2013, in an interview with Rolling Stone, R. Kelly spoke about why he wanted to make the album sound similar to his 1993 debut album, 12 Play, saying: "I love that I can play around with all types of music. I did Love Letter and Write Me Back and those were fun albums for me to do, because they took me back to music I love. But, I wanted to change lanes with this new album and remind people of the TP-2.com and 12 Play style of music I can do — 'Kellz music!' I like that I can change lanes and do all different kinds of music. Fans can never accuse R. Kelly of doing the same thing, I keep mixing it up."[8] In December 2013, in an interview with Billboard, R. Kelly spoke about why he decided to name the album Black Panties, saying: "I’m on stage doing the Love Letter tour and I was singing “Seems Like You're Ready”. Every time I'm singing, panties start flying out of everywhere. Seriously. But this particular night, a pair of mediums came out of the sky and they were black and they landed on my wrist. Immediately I looked at that and looked up like “that’s a sign”. Yeah, the idea hit me right away."[9][10] Collaborator Jeremih revealed in an interview that he had not been in the studio together with Kelly for the recording process of "Switch Up", but described the working experience as "dope".[11]

Singles

[edit]

On July 28, 2013 the album's first single "My Story", was released and later peaked at number 89 on the US Billboard Hot 100[12][13]

On September 24, 2013, the album's second single "Genius" was released.[14]

On November 25, 2013, the album's third single "Cookie" was released.[15] then on December 10, 2013, a music video for the song was released.[16]

"Legs Shakin'" was sent to US urban contemporary radio stations on March 11, 2014, as the album's fourth single.[17]

Critical reception

[edit]
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic61/100[18]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[19]
Chicago Tribune[20]
Consequence of Sound[21]
Entertainment WeeklyB[22]
Exclaim!4/10[23]
HipHopDX[24]
The Independent[25]
Slant Magazine[26]
Spin5/10[27]
USA Today[28]

Upon its release, Black Panties received mixed reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 61, based on 19 reviews, indicating "generally positive reviews".[18] Andy Kellman of AllMusic gave the album two and a half stars out of five, saying "After Love Letter and Write Me Back, classy and relatively polite throwback albums, R. Kelly reverts to sexually exaggerated and wholly contemporary content for Black Panties. Kelly, joined by a deep roster of fellow songwriters and producers, dispenses with the strings, horns, and dashing charm, and dishes out sleaze by the bucket over modern backdrops that slink and whir. All the material is slow and mostly pared down, made to maximize space for his still generous supply of hooks and outlandish rhymes."[19] Nick Catucci of Entertainment Weekly gave the album a B, saying "Black Panties won't humanize the man for anyone who prefers caricature. But his 12th album, a return to wafting sex jams after two soulful dance discs, also falls short of the Kelly we love: the tireless entertainer-as-lover and suavely esoteric devotee of churchy theatrics, inspirational-poster slogans, Chicago stepping music, and extreme wordplay."[22] Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune gave the album two out of four stars, saying "After two albums of elegant, old-school stepping music, R. Kelly is back doing the raunch. Black Panties is a musically detailed, sonically rich porn soundtrack, a formula that has helped the singer sell more than 50 million albums worldwide in two decades."[20] Omar Burgess of HipHopDX gave the album three and a half stars out of five, saying "Black Panties finds his subject matter about as varied as the play-by-play of two dogs in heat. But what it lacks in lyrical depth it makes up for by being a catchy, entertaining and completely in the moment snapshot of the current turned up, hybrid of R&B and Rap for clubs and bedrooms."[24]

Marah Eakin of The A.V. Club gave the album a B−, saying "Whether Kelly consciously meant to make it one or not, Black Panties could be a big step forward for the sex-positive movement. Or it could just be another R. Kelly record."[29] Jason King of Spin gave the album a five out of ten, saying "Black Panties also happens to be a serious musical step backwards from the melodious Write Me Back. The production is suitably retro 1990s-meets-contemporary-hip-hop: Synth strings and gated drums are matched to pitched-down, chopped & screwed vocals. But the songwriting is the big problem: These are serviceable but mediocre and tuneless slow jams. Then again, no one thinks of 12 Play's “I Like the Crotch on You” as lyrically or musically transcendent, either."[27] Jordan Sargent of Pitchfork Media gave the album a 6.8 out of 10, saying "With Black Panties, what you see is mostly what you get. What we get is a pretty good modern R&B album, but it’s also one that feels just a bit fossilized. With its undulating synths, abundance of screwed vocals and slowly churning tempos, Black Panties sounds suspiciously like the-Dream’s first two albums."[30] Ryan B. Patrick of Exclaim! gave the album a four out of ten, saying "Ultimately, there isn't much to recommend with Black Panties. Kelly is crazy talented, but has always been at his best when he controls his obsessions, not the other way around. Dogged by personal scandals for the better portion of his career, Kelly is unrepentant, unfazed, and unaware that just because he's in on the joke doesn't make it any less funny."[23]

Commercial performance

[edit]

The album debuted at number 4 on the Billboard 200 chart, with first-week sales of 133,000 copies in the United States. It is R. Kelly's highest-charting album since Untitled (2009) debuted at number four.[31] In its second week, the album fell to number 15 and sold 60,000 more copies, a 55% drop from its first week sales.[32][33] In its third week, the album sold 44,000 more copies in the United States, falling two spots to number 17.[34][35] In its fourth week, the album sold 31,000 more copies and rose to number 11 on the US Billboard 200.[36] As of October 2015, the album has sold 462,000 copies in the United States.[37]

Track listing

[edit]
Standard version
No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
1."Legs Shakin'" (featuring Ludacris)
4:26
2."Cookie"
  • Kelly
  • Joseph Angel
  • Winfred Crabtree II
  • Rebecca Johnson
  • Aaron Revelle
  • Destin Mungall
  • Kelly
  • Win
  • T. Newsome
  • Rahk
  • Destin
3:45
3."Throw This Money on You"
  • Kelly
  • Dennis-Manuel Peters
  • Daniel Coriglie
  • Mario Bakovic
  • Kelly
  • Peters
  • Coriglie
  • Bakovic
3:40
4."Prelude"  3:11
5."Marry the Pussy"
  • Kelly
  • Antonio Brown
  • Kelly
  • Beat Mechanix
4:14
6."You Deserve Better"
  • Kelly
  • Peters
  • Coriglie
  • Bakovic
  • Kelly
  • Peters
  • Coriglie
  • Bakovic
3:51
7."Genius"
  • Kelly
  • Dorrell Mays
  • Kelly
  • Bigg Makk
3:59
8."All the Way" (featuring Kelly Rowland)
  • Kelly
  • Sly Jordan
  • Kelly
  • David Anthony
  • Rich Nice
3:49
9."My Story" (featuring 2 Chainz)
4:26
10."Right Back"
  • Kelly
  • Darrick "Devyne" Stephens
  • Christopher Clark
  • Kelly
  • Cheryl A. Mack[a]
3:26
11."Spend That" (featuring Young Jeezy)
3:42
12."Crazy Sex"
2:37
13."Shut Up"
  • Kelly
  • Mays
  • Kelly
  • Bigg Makk
4:03
Total length:49:09
Deluxe version (bonus tracks)
No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
14."Tear It Up" (featuring Future)
  • Kelly
  • Peters
  • Coriglie
  • Bakovic
3:41
15."Show Ya Pussy" (featuring Migos & Juicy J)
  • Kelly
  • Donnie Lyle
  • Quavious Marshall
  • Kirshink Ball
  • Jordan Houston
  • Kelly
  • Lyle
3:37
16."Physical"
  • Kelly
  • Tony Scales
  • John McGee
  • Kelly
  • Chef Tone
  • McGee
4:16
17."Every Position"
  • Kelly
  • Peters
  • Coriglie
  • Bakovic
  • Kelly
  • Peters
  • Coriglie
  • Bakovic
3:26
Total length:64:10
Japan bonus tracks
No.TitleLength
18."Best at It"3:08
19."Circles"3:02
Total length:70:20
Notes
  • ^[a] signifies an assistant producer

Personnel

[edit]

Credits adapted from AllMusic.[38]

Charts

[edit]

Certifications

[edit]
Region Certification Certified units/sales
United States (RIAA)[49] Gold 500,000[37]

Release history

[edit]
Country Date Version(s) Label
Australia[50] December 13, 2013
  • Standard (CD, Download)
  • deluxe (CD, Download)
 Sony
Belgium[51] December 6, 2013
  • Standard (Download)
  • deluxe (Download)
Brazil[52] December 10, 2013
  • Standard (Download)
  • deluxe (Download)
Canada[53] December 10, 2013
  • Standard (CD, Download)
  • deluxe (CD, Download)
France[54] December 9, 2013
  • Standard (CD, Download)
  • deluxe (Download)
Germany[55] December 10, 2013
  • deluxe (CD, Download)
Japan[56] December 12, 2013
  • deluxe (CD, Download)
 Sony Music Japan
Netherlands[1] December 6, 2013
  • Standard (Download)
  • deluxe (Download)
 Sony
New Zealand[57] December 13, 2013
  • Standard (Download)
  • deluxe (Download)
Switzerland[58] December 6, 2013
  • Standard (Download)
  • deluxe (Download)
Thailand[59] December 9, 2013
  • Standard (Download)
  • deluxe (Download)
United Kingdom[60] December 9, 2013
  • Standard (Download)
  • deluxe (CD, Download)
 RCA
United States[61] December 10, 2013
  • Standard (CD, Download)
  • deluxe (CD, Download)

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b Netherlands release of 'Black Panties':
    • "Black Panties (Deluxe Version)". Itunes. Retrieved November 25, 2013.
  2. ^ "R. Kelly drops another sex/food crossover single, 'Cookie': Hear it here". EW.com. Retrieved 27 November 2014.
  3. ^ "R. Kelly". Pitchfork. 8 September 2013. Retrieved 27 November 2014.
  4. ^ Lemieux, Jamilah (2011-10-07). "RCA shuts down Jive and Arista Records | Clutch Magazine". Clutchmagonline.com. Archived from the original on 2013-10-12. Retrieved 2013-11-16.
  5. ^ "R. Kelly | The Official Rca Records Press Site". Rcarecordspress.com. 2013-07-29. Retrieved 2013-11-16.
  6. ^ R. Kelly Shares 'Black Panties' Artwork and Track List | Music News | Rolling Stone
  7. ^ Beard, Lanford (2011-09-16). "R. Kelly says his new album, 'Black Panties,' gets back to his nasty ways: Are you going to miss his sweeter side?". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2011-11-14.
  8. ^ Kory Grow (2013-10-30). "R. Kelly Talks 'Black Panties' Sound | Music News". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2013-12-09.
  9. ^ Keith Nelson Jr (7 December 2013). "R. Kelly: A Pair of Flying Black Panties Inspired My New Album (VIDEO)". AllHipHop.com. Retrieved 2013-12-09.
  10. ^ "R. Kelly on "Black Panties", "Trapped" and working w/ Kanye West | The Juice". Billboard. Retrieved 2013-12-09.
  11. ^ Malcolm Ohanwe. "Jeremih not amused by Apple Music, talks Love Life". MalcolmMusic. Retrieved 2016-12-10.
  12. ^ "R. Kelly feat. 2 Chainz - My Story (Audio)". YouTube. 2013-07-29. Retrieved 2013-11-16.
  13. ^ "Listen to R. Kelly's new single, "My Story", featuring 2 Chainz". Consequence of Sound. 2013-07-29. Retrieved 2013-11-16.
  14. ^ "iTunes - Music - Genius - Single by R. Kelly". Itunes.apple.com. 2013-09-24. Retrieved 2013-12-09.
  15. ^ "Cookie". Amazon.
  16. ^ "Rap-Up.com -- Video: R. Kelly – 'Cookie'". Rap-Up.com. Retrieved 27 November 2014.
  17. ^ "Urban/UAC Future Releases". All Access Music Group. Archived from the original on 2014-03-04.
  18. ^ a b "Black Panties Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 2015-12-21.
  19. ^ a b Andy Kellman. "Black Panties - R. Kelly | Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards". AllMusic. Retrieved 2013-12-09.
  20. ^ a b Greg Kot. "R. Kelly album review; Black Panties reviewed". chicagotribune.com. Archived from the original on 2013-12-13. Retrieved 2013-12-09.
  21. ^ "Album Review: R. Kelly – Black Panties". Consequence of Sound. 2013-12-10. Retrieved 2013-12-26.
  22. ^ a b Nick Catucci. "Black Panties Album Review". EW.com. Retrieved 2013-12-09.
  23. ^ a b Patrick, Ryan B. "R. Kelly - Black Panties • Soul, Funk & World Reviews •". Exclaim.ca. Retrieved 2013-12-09.
  24. ^ a b Burgess, Omar (2013-12-03). "R. Kelly - Black Panties | Read Hip Hop Reviews, Rap Reviews & Hip Hop Album Reviews". HipHop DX. Retrieved 2013-12-09.
  25. ^ Andy Gill (December 6, 2013). "R Kelly, Black Panties: Album review - Reviews - Music". The Independent. London. Retrieved 2013-12-09.
  26. ^ "R. Kelly: Black Panties | Music Review". Slant Magazine. Retrieved 2013-12-09.
  27. ^ a b King, Jason. "R. Kelly, 'Black Panties' Review". Spin.com. Retrieved 2013-12-09.
  28. ^ Shriver, Jerry (2013-12-09). "Album of the week: R. Kelly's 'Black Panties'". Usatoday.com. Retrieved 2013-12-26.
  29. ^ McFarland, Kevin (10 December 2013). "R. Kelly's new record is raw, raunchy, and risqué—but is it any good? · The A.V. Club". Avclub.com. Retrieved 2013-12-26.
  30. ^ "R. Kelly: Black Panties | Album Reviews". Pitchfork. 2013-12-10. Retrieved 2013-12-26.
  31. ^ "Beyonce Tops Billboard 200, R. Kelly and Childish Gambino Debut in Top 10". Billboard. Retrieved 2013-12-26.
  32. ^ Tardio, Andres (2013-12-26). "Hip Hop Album Sales: The Week Ending 12/22/2013". HipHopDX. Retrieved 2013-12-26.
  33. ^ Ramirez, Rauly (27 December 2013). "Beyonce's 'Drunk In Love' Debuts at No. 2 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs Chart". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved 10 January 2014.
  34. ^ Tardio, Andres (2014-01-02). "Hip Hop Album Sales: The Week Ending 12/29/2013". HipHopDX. Retrieved 2014-01-02.
  35. ^ Ramirez, Rauly (3 January 2014). "Eminem's 'Monster' Posts Biggest Sales Week Yet". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved 4 January 2014.
  36. ^ Ramirez, Rauly (9 January 2014). "Pharrell Gets 'Happy' With Debut on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs Chart". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved 10 January 2014.
  37. ^ a b "Upcoming Releases: Hits Daily Double". Hits Daily Double. Archived from the original on October 1, 2015.
  38. ^ "Black Panties - R. Kelly - Credits - AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved 27 November 2014.
  39. ^ "Ultratop.be – R. Kelly – Black Panties" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved December 20, 2013.
  40. ^ "Ultratop.be – R. Kelly – Black Panties" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved February 12, 2014.
  41. ^ "Dutchcharts.nl – R. Kelly – Black Panties" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved December 14, 2013.
  42. ^ "CHART LOG UK: NEW ENTRIES UPDATE". ChartsPlus. Retrieved 22 December 2013.
  43. ^ "Official R&B Albums Chart Top 40". Official Charts Company. Retrieved December 14, 2013.
  44. ^ "R. Kelly Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved December 14, 2013.
  45. ^ "R. Kelly Chart History (Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved December 14, 2013.
  46. ^ "Billboard 200 – Year of 2014". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved December 22, 2014.
  47. ^ "Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums – Year of 2014". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved December 22, 2014.
  48. ^ "Top R&B Albums". Billboard.
  49. ^ "American album certifications – R. Kelly – Black Panties". Recording Industry Association of America. April 19, 2016.
  50. ^ Australia release of 'Black Panties':
  51. ^ Belgium release of 'Black Panties':
  52. ^ Brazil release of 'Black Panties':
  53. ^ Canada release of 'Black Panties':
  54. ^ Francy release of 'Black Panties':
  55. ^ Germany release of 'Black Panties':
  56. ^ Japan release of 'Black Panties':
  57. ^ New Zealand release of 'Black Panties':
  58. ^ Switzerland release of 'Black Panties':
  59. ^ Thailand release of 'Black Panties':
  60. ^ UK release of 'Black Panties':
  61. ^ US release of 'Black Panties':
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