R Kelly: Black Panties

Inspiration for R Kelly’s new album came when the veteran R&B man was being bombarded by underwear during a gig. One particular pair of knickers (“black and medium,” he later remembered) lassoed his wrist: a eureka moment.

“I gotta go back and write a song called ‘Black Panties’,” he told himself. Lo, an entire album of absurdly sleazy sex jams has ensued, in the lewd style of the singer’s 1993 debut 12 Play.

Beats bump and grind effectively while Kelly croons sweetly, the hint of electronic distortion giving his blandishments a seedy undertow. The lyrics are even seedier, the singer delivering lines such as “I touch you with my Taser tongue” as though determined to make “Blurred Lines” seem like a feminist anthem.

R Kelly

Black Panties

(RCA)