Black Panties
| R. Kelly
Black Panties
Black Panties is the twelfth studio album by American R&B singer R. Kelly. It was released in the United States on December 10, 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. -WIKIPEDIA
Critic Reviews
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Pitchfork
Black Panties tosses aside the classic soul of his previous two albums in exchange for a deep dive into the sounds of contemporary bumping and grinding.
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RollingStone
on Black Panties, he stops lighting candles and starts dipping his wick.
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CoS
Black Panties is a one-night stand of an album, leaving little to the imagination, but much to be desired from a man who could be giving us forever.
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The Quietus
no matter how potentially great Black Panties may become, it is the artist himself who could drag it down.
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Entertainment
His 12th album, a return to wafting sex jams after two soulful dance discs, also falls short of the Kelly we love.
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Boston Globe
The culture police might have hemorrhages listening to these uncensored tracks, but anyone with a sense of humor and an appreciation for smartly crafted mainstream R&B will appreciate the singer-songwriter’s return to his wild ways.
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HIP HOP DX
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.
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AV/MUSIC
Regardless of the reason, it’s safe to say that Kelly is fighting all sorts of social norms on Black Panties, from sex talk to issues of race and economics.
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Los Angeles Times
So-so cuts like "Right Back" and "All the Way," a meandering duet with Kelly Rowland, give the impression that the singer might've padded the album in his determination to get it out in time to capitalize on the renown he's established this year.
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popMATTERS
Solid, but inconsequential.
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INDEPENDENT
Black Panties finds him getting back to his core business with rather less artistic ambition.
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The New York Times
Songs like "Cookie," "Crazy Sex" and "Legs Shakin'" start off as promises of highly skilled sexual attentions, but end up as to-do lists.
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ALL MUSIC
Occasional resemblances to Drake and the-Dream are as blatant as the Isley Brothers and Michael Jackson exercises of Write Me Back. The similarities are so obvious that it's tough to discern if Kelly is acknowledging his younger followers, aiming to beat them at their game, or both.
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SLANT
The onslaught of bawdy imagery eventually grows tedious, but there's something compelling about witnessing one man's psyche laid so completely bare, a crazed prophet whipped into a frenzy by the ecstasy of his own sin.
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SPIN
Blunt and crass, 2013’s Black Panties is all about selling nostalgia for a bygone age of hard-body sexist black machismo that Barack Obama is, in his own quiet way, helping to deflate.
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Tiny Mix Tapes
Despite its positives, the album falls far short of the impressive musical peaks of Kelly’s discography.
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NOW
Despite flashes of melodic and lyrical inventiveness, production-wise Kelly sounds like he’s chasing innovators The-Dream and Mike WiLL Made It, especially on the strip club tracks.
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exclaim
Ultimately, there isn't much to recommend with Black Panties.
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hnhh
On the whole though, the album falls flat in several places, and leaves you a tad disappointed knowing that R Kelly is capable of so much more.
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Soul in Stereo
Black Panties ain’t sexy. I can’t even criticize it for being sleazy. It’s just straight-up lazy.
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Chicago Tribune
Kelly is best when he is at his most absurd, comical and over-the-top.... Sometimes, the jokes go too far.
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brent music reviews
R. Kelly sounds exceptionally vocally on Black Panties, goes overboard sensually.
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The Line of Best Fit
Black Panties is straight up R&B, wanton as the genre is wont to be, filled with liquid, throbbing bass and lush accents, shimmering plink and plunks and breathy tones.
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contact music
Crude, lustful, erotic - call it what you want; 'Black Panties' is quintessentially R. Kelly.
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Music Connection
This album has one purpose and one purpose only: to bring out the freak in you.
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The Wave
He still has the best male voice in R’n’B and shows this off on an album which he described as ‘Kellz Music’
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joonbug.com
Black Panties does nothing to humanize R.Kelly and for those of us who remember his non-musical past and troubles, presenting these songs do nothing to change that.
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PARLE'
You won’t have too many complaints with Black Panties. Unless of course you have something against sex, in which case you shouldn’t be listening to Black Panties R. Kelly anyway!
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Soul Tracks
After drowning in its pornographic excesses, lyrical repetitions, and droning productions, the whole affair is ultimately rendered boring; R. Kelly managed to make adult sex boring. Go figure.
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RENOWNED FOR SOUND
R. Kelly is the king of contemporary R&B. His vocals and songwriting are more than proficient, and he has lost none of his ability to get listeners busy.
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Irish Times
Black Panties is as direct as its artwork, in which Kelly channels the Phantom of the Opera and attempts to play a semi-naked woman like a cello.
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Rated R&B
All in all, if you’re a hardcore R.Kelly fan who was expecting a sequel to his “12 Play” album, prepared to be disappointed because those PG-13 days are over. “Black Panties” is ALL X-rated.
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Scott Woods Makes Lists
In short, fuck R. Kelly and fuck this record. It’s jailbait chum. I’m going to Q-Tip my ears with a rusty drain snake and call my mother.
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VOX Magazine
He tried hard, but Black Panties only has one thing carrying its repulsive, ridiculous and talentless weight: shock factor. Please, Kelly, go back to being trapped in the closet.
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ANHEDONIC HEADPHONES
Kellz manages to maintain a sense of humor and self-awareness that lets you know you shouldn’t take Black Panties 100% seriously. He’s not trying to reinvent the wheel here—he’s just trying to have sex with the wheel.
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day & a dream
it’s quite clear that Kelly is having fun with this.
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Complex (Moby reviews)
"I'm not opposed to the occasional song about reproductive organs, but almost every song on Black Panties is about pussy. Or fame. Or pussy and fame. Or famous pussy."
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USA Today
Pop art? Audio porn? Manifesto of a hedonist who salutes his haters with a middle digit? Comedy album?
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The Gizzle Review
Simply listening is enough to make you feel dirty. Somebody run me a cold shower.
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Newsday
"Black Panties" does get monotonous, but Kelly certainly finds ways of occasionally spicing things up.
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LasVegas Weekly
He wants to be sure you and everyone else knows that Black Panties is an unabashed hymn to his favorite lady part.
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The Filtered Lens
It’s repetitive and over-sexual, and ranks as only a minor notch in R. Kelly’s long career.
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IDOLATOR
the titles suggest R. Kelly has recorded a collection of tunes equally suited to the strip club or bedroom
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spectrum pulse
if you're a hardcore R. Kelly fan, you'll probably enjoy it, but he's done better.
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The Patriot Online
R. Kelly is better than the work he put out for Black Panties.
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IOL
if you are not trying to get pregnant then stay away from Black Panties because it will get you there.
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Grantland
Black Panties reminds you how rarely R&B concentrates on the sex people actually have: the breathlessness and soreness, the leg shaking, the terminology, the sheer exhaustiveness.
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Tampa Bay Times
Black Panties is just another outlet for the same good ol' R. Kelly.
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Writtalin
“Black Panties” is 17 continuous tracks of rousing sexuality that will pin you to the bed – or, as the album suggests, the floor, the dresser, the couch, kitchen, the shower, the office, the door, the lawn, etc.
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New York Post
People who talk about sex all the time grow tiresome, and R. Kelly isn’t any different.
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News with an Attitude
Black Panties is a musical personification of a one-track mind, with songs grotesquely composed and repetitive that it almost feels that it could spark the first sexual assault lawsuit filed by a set of ears.
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AL.com
Kelly's schizophrenic meal plan is just hard to swallow.
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bestfan
This whole album is about sex. Over and over again.
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hotpress
Limp return from R'n'B's least wanted.
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