Release Date: May 29
Artist: R. Kelly
Record Label: Jive
R. Kelly is the Joyce Carol Oates of crotch-grabbing R&B. He simply can't stop his own profligacy. Just as the laughs over Trapped in the Closet start dying down, not only does Kelly deliver a new album — which may or may not include "Rise Up," his uncommissioned tribute to the survivors of the Virginia Tech shooting — he completes a new Trapped in the Closet DVD, out July 24, containing chapters 13-22 of the longest, weirdest ballad ever recorded. Double Up is apparently more up-tempo than Kelly's last few albums and features the usual array of rap guests (Snoop Dogg, Ludacris, Nelly and Young Jeezy). There are also plenty of slow jams, and, if past performance is any indication, heaping doses of terrible taste.