Under fredagsmorgonen amerikansk tid dök ett nytt album av R. Kelly upp på stremingtjänster som Apple Music och Spotify. 13-spåriga “I Admit It” blev en stor chock för många, men bara några timmar senare försvann musiken. Enligt Kellys team handlade det om olovligt publicerat material som de själva inte var involverade i.
“It’s stolen music. A police report was filed some time ago because his masters were stolen, but there’s not much of an appetite to investigate these things. People have had access to his intellectual property rights that they are attempting to profit off of, but unfortunately that does not include Mr. Kelly”, säger advokaten Jennifer Bonjean till The Hollywood Reporter.
Hon fortsätter:
“When he was arrested, he had studio equipment that was taken. His masters are missing. The music is somewhere out there, but who has it and who has profited off it — we don’t know entirely.”
“I Admit It” innehöll låtar som “Last Man Standing”, “Where’s Love When You Need It”, “Freaky Sensation” samt det kontroversiella titelspåret där han adresserar våld i hemmet, pedofili och andra brottsanklagelser riktade mot honom.
“What’s the definition of a cult? What’s the definition of a sex slave? Go to the dictionary, look it up/Let me know, I’ll be here waiting … I’m not gonna let y’all steal my joy/I’m just gon’ keep on doin’ me/Now I don’t know what else to say except ‘I’m so falsely accused’/Tell me, how can you judge when you’ve never walked in my shoes?”, sjunger han bland annat i den 19 minuter långa låten som släpptes via SoundCloud 2018.
R. Kelly själv, som just nu sitter fängslad i Chicago, uttalade sig enligt TMZ kort efter att albumet dök upp. Han förnekade också all inblandning och hävdade att situationen var “fucked up”.
“Apparently somebody done faked an album called I Admit It, and put it out there as if it was me putting it out. And I’m not putting out any albums, I haven’t put out any albums, I’m not even interested in putting out any albums, ’cause my only focus is the appeal and everything else. But it seems like somebody want this album out to mess with the appeal because why would I put an album out called I Admit It? Okay, so that right there make no damn sense”, ska han ha sagt i ett telefonsamtal från fängelset.
“I wish they’d find out who did this and who’s putting it out there, ’cause they also, on top of that, they’re probably making money off of it. And it’s just messed up that it happens to come at the time when I’m working on my appeal that an album comes out that’s supposed to be from me called I Admit It. It’s just really just fucked up”, fortsätter han.
Kelly dömdes som bekant till 30 års fängelse i juni, efter att ha dömds skyldig till utpressning och sexhandel i domstol i New York. 55-åringen står inför samma brottsanklagelser i Minnesota och Illinois.
Foto: Pressbild
