Double Up (R. Kelly album)

Double Up
Studio album by R. Kelly
Released	May 29, 2007 (2007-05-29) (see Release history)
Recorded	2006–2007
Genre	R&B, hip hop, soul, dirty rap
Length	76:19
Label	Jive/Zomba
Producer	R. Kelly Polow da Don Khao Lil' Ronnie Mysto & Pizzi
R. Kelly chronology
TP.3 Reloaded (2005) Double Up (2007) Untitled (2009)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]
Entertainment Weekly	(C)[2]
Pitchfork Media	(6.7/10)[3]
PopMatters	[4]
Rolling Stone	[5]
Slant Magazine	[6]
Yahoo Music UK	[7]

Double Up is the eighth studio album by R&B singer R. Kelly, released on May 29, 2007. 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.

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. R. 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."

Prior to the album's release, three songs were leaked onto the Internet: second single "Same Girl", which features Usher; "Rise Up", a song which only appeared on some releases, a tribute to the victims of the Virginia Tech massacre in April 2007; 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 track listing, 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 and Kid Rock, was released as the album's third single on September 4.

On May 25, 2007, four days before the album's release, the explicit version of the album became available for purchase on iTunes. The edited version became available on May 29, 2007, with a bonus track version available a day later.

On June 3, 2007 it entered the UK Albums Chart at #10.

The album debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200, making this his fifth album to debut at #1. The album has sold 946,000 copies in the US to date.^[8]

Track listing

All songs were written, produced, and arranged by R. Kelly himself, excluding the tracks that have featured artists.

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"The Champ" (featuring Swizz Beatz)	R. Kelly	R. Kelly	1:50
2.	"Double Up" (featuring Snoop Dogg)	R. Kelly, C. Broadus, C. Bereal, K. Bereal, C.X. Brockman, C. Keyes, N. Stewart	R. Kelly; Khao (co.)	4:48
3.	"Tryin to Get a Number" (featuring Nelly)	R. Kelly, C. Haynes	R. Kelly	3:47
4.	"Get Dirty" (featuring Chamillionaire)	R. Kelly, H. Seriki	R. Kelly; Mysto & Pizzi (co.)	3:56
5.	"Leave Your Name"	R. Kelly	R. Kelly	3:27
6.	"Freaky in the Club"	R. Kelly	R. Kelly	4:35
7.	"The Zoo"	R. Kelly	R. Kelly	3:39
8.	"I'm a Flirt (Remix)" (featuring T.I. & T-Pain)	R. Kelly, S. Moss, R. Jackson, C. Harris, F. Najm	R. Kelly; Lil' Ronnie (co.)	5:32
9.	"Same Girl" (with Usher)	R. Kelly	R. Kelly	4:12
10.	"Real Talk"	R. Kelly	R. Kelly	3:00
11.	"Hook It Up" (featuring Huey)	R. Kelly, L. Franks Jr.	R. Kelly; Lil' Ronnie (co.)	4:15
12.	"Rock Star" (featuring Ludacris & Kid Rock)	R. Kelly, C. Bridges	R. Kelly	4:47
13.	"Best Friend" (featuring Keyshia Cole & Polow da Don)	R. Kelly	R. Kelly	4:41
14.	"Rollin'"	R. Kelly	R. Kelly	4:47
15.	"Sweet Tooth"	R. Kelly	R. Kelly	2:50
16.	"Havin a Baby"	R. Kelly	R. Kelly	3:34
17.	"Sex Planet"	R. Kelly	R. Kelly	5:35
18.	"Rise Up" (Virginia Tech Memorial tribute track) (Not included on some releases outside of North America)	R. Kelly	R. Kelly	3:31

International bonus tracks
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
19.	"Ringtone" (U.S./Japan/Canada/Australia/UK/Russian/iTunes bonus track)	R. Kelly, J. Jones, T. Nash, W. Hodge	Polow da Don	3:41
20.	"I Like Love" (Japan/Canada bonus track)	R. Kelly	R. Kelly	3:20
21.	"Ooh Baby" (iTunes/Philippines/Mexico/Spain bonus track)	R. Kelly	R. Kelly	3:38
22.	"Good Sex" (featuring Twista) (iTunes/South American/New Zealand/African/Iraq/Israel/Turkey/Poland/India bonus track)	R. Kelly, A. Harr and J. Jackson, C.T. Mitchell	R. Kelly, The Runners	3:40

Samples

Double Up

• "Iceberg" By Tweet

Hook It Up

• "Turn Da Lights Off" By Tweet

Notes

• There are different iTunes versions of Double Up. Some feature the track "Ringtone" as track 20 instead of 19.^[9] Other versions have "I Like Love" or the video for "I'm a Flirt" as bonus features.
• On all versions (digital and CD) of Double Up, "I'm a Flirt" is presented in its censored form while the other songs are not.
• On most international versions of the album, the song "Rise Up" is omitted in favor of the aforementioned bonus tracks. The song "Rise Up" was reportedly intended predominantly for North American listeners because it is about the Virginia Tech massacre, something that some non-North American fans of R. Kelly may be unfamiliar with.
• An extended version of the song "Get Dirty" with an extended verse by Chamillionaire was released on R. Kelly's MySpace page.
• A new intro to the song "I'm a Flirt (Remix)" was released, only featuring an additional 10 seconds of music before the actual song. The only evidence of this was found on YouTube.^[10] The video is no longer available because the YouTube account which uploaded the video has been deleted.

Release history

Region	Date
Jamaica	January 9, 2007 (2007-01-09)
Haiti	May 29, 2007 (2007-05-29)
United States
Japan	December 10, 2007 (2007-12-10)
Netherlands	March 1, 2008 (2008-03-01)
United Kingdom

Chart positions

Chart (2007)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard 200	1
U.S. Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums	1
UK Albums Chart	10
Canadian Albums Chart	19
German Albums Chart	46
Dutch Albums Chart	34
Italian Albums Chart	62
European Albums Chart	1

See also

• List of number-one albums of 2007 (U.S.)
• List of number-one R&B albums of 2007 (U.S.)

References

1. ^ Hoffman, K. Ross. "R. Kelly: Double Up > Review" at Allmusic. Retrieved 3 September 2011.
2. ^ Willman, Chris (25 May 2007). "Double Up: R. Kelly". Entertainment Weekly (936). http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20039780,00.html. 
3. ^ Dombal, Ryan (5 June 2007). "R. Kelly: Double Up". Pitchfork Media. http://pitchforkmedia.com/reviews/albums/10293-double-up/. 
4. ^ Boeckel, Gentry (8 June 2007). "R. Kelly: Double Up". PopMatters. http://www.popmatters.com/pm/music/reviews/42171/r-kelly-double-up/. 
5. ^ Christgau, Robert (29 May 2007). "R. Kelly: Double Up". Rolling Stone. http://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/double-up-20070529. 
6. ^ Henderson, Eric (31 May 2007). "R. Kelly: Double Up". Slant Magazine. http://www.slantmagazine.com/music/review/r-kelly-double-up/1127. 
7. ^ Gennoe, Dan (1 June 2007). "R. Kelly - Double Up". Yahoo Music UK. http://uk.launch.yahoo.com/070601/33/21atj.html. 
8. ^ "R. Kelly Still Steamy On New Song Leaks". Billboard.com. http://www.billboard.com/artist/r-kelly/37015#/news/r-kelly-still-steamy-on-new-song-leaks-1003833409.story. 
9. ^ gnoos — Internal server error^{[dead link]}
10. ^ YouTube.com^{[dead link]} This video is no longer available because the YouTube account associated with this video has been terminated.

External links

• 'R. Kelly Previews New Album On The Phone'
• 'Album Credits At The Vault, Dubcc.com'
• 'R Kelly's Double Up Review'
• R Kelly Forums
• The R. Kelly Double Up Official Website

Preceded by It Won't Be Soon Before Long by Maroon 5

Billboard 200 number-one album June 10, 2007 - June 16, 2007

Succeeded by Epiphany by T-Pain