The most glaring flaw, apparent just by browsing the setlist, is a Prelude randomly placed at track 4. Even a song with that title would throw things off a bit, but it’s not a song. It’s an actual three-minute prelude, not so much to the album but to the track that follows, which is a song entitled Marry The Pussy. If it; a silly skit in which R Kelly plays himself and two other characters engaged in ghetto dialogue; had to be included at all, it should’ve come at the beginning of the album. As is, all it does is interrupt the flow.

Not that the songs themselves are particularly enticing. Black Panties is his second best album title after 12 Play; most of the others, not the albums but their titles, are rather atrocious; but, while I’m glad he’s returned to the role of raunchy sex maniac after going retro romantic for the last two, it continues the run of mediocrity that began with TP3. His releases were consistently pleasing until then; especially the R one, which could have easily been a classic if it were condensed down to, say, the best twelve songs.

This one has twelve, plus the aforementioned Prelude, but none of them really come close to matching the quality of his best work. Legs Shakin, which borrows the style of its repeated “love” line from Michael Jackson’s Lady In My Life, is an early highlight. It’s also one of three songs about licking pussy, which this rich “nigga” does both literally and figuratively. His juvenile lyrics, his obvious reliance on an Auto-Tune-like vocal processor, and rap features from the likes of Jeezy and 2 Chainz leave much to be desired.

my rating : 3 of 5

2013