Double Up (R. Kelly album)

Double Up is the eighth studio album by American singer-songwriter R. Kelly. It was released by Jive Records on May 29, 2007 in the United States, with distribution handled by Zomba Label Group. The album features the contributions with guest appearances and also the productions, which was handled by R. Kelly, along with Swizz Beatz, The Runners, Snoop Dogg, Khao, Nelly, Chamillionaire and Polow da Don.

Double Up
Studio album by R. Kelly
Released	May 29, 2007 (2007-05-29)
Genre	R&B hip hop soul
Length	76:19
Label	Jive Zomba Sony BMG
Producer	R. Kelly Polow da Don Khao Lil' Ronnie Mysto & Pizzi The Runners
R. Kelly chronology
TP.3 Reloaded (2005) Double Up (2007) Untitled (2009)
Singles from Double Up
"I'm a Flirt (Remix)" Released: March 2, 2007 "Same Girl" Released: May 29, 2007 (US), August 24, 2007 (Germany) "Rock Star" Released: October 2, 2007

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	63/100^[1]
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	^[2]
Entertainment Weekly	C^[3]
Pitchfork Media	(6.7/10)^[4]
PopMatters	(7/10)^[5]
Robert Christgau	^[6]
Rolling Stone	^[7]
Slant Magazine	^[8]
Yahoo! Music UK	(4/10)^[9]

Its lead single, his remix to "I'm a Flirt", which features guest vocals from American rapper T.I. and American recording artist T-Pain; attaining the prominence of the success on the Billboard's Top 40 charts, while it peaked at number one on the US Top Hot Rap Tracks chart.

Background

On YouTube, R. Kelly has a video of him speaking out about his state on his success and his thoughts of collaborating with artists, such 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."

Promotion and release

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. A video for the song "Real Talk" was also made directly on YouTube. 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.

Chart performance

The album debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200, with first-week sales of 386,000 copies, making this his sixth and final album in his career to debut at number-one.^[10] To date, the album has sold 1,200,000 copies in the United States.^[11] On June 3, 2007 it entered the UK Albums Chart at #10.

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"The Champ" (featuring Swizz Beatz)	Robert Kelly, Kasseem Dean	Kelly, The Runners (co.)	1:50
2.	"Double Up" (featuring Snoop Dogg)	Kelly, Calvin Broadus, Jr., C. Bereal, K. Bereal, C. Brockman, C. Keyes, N. Stewart	Kelly, Khao (co.)	4:48
3.	"Tryin to Get a Number" (featuring Nelly)	Kelly, C. Haynes	Corey "Keyz" Martin	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	Lil' Ronnie	5:32
9.	"Same Girl" (duet with Usher)	R. Kelly	R. Kelly, Lil' Ronnie (co.)	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, Polow da Don (co.)	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 releases outside of North America)	R. Kelly	R. Kelly	3:31

Bonus/hidden tracks ^[12]

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
19.	"Ringtone" (iTunes bonus track / physical hidden track)	R. Kelly, J. Jones, W. Hodge	R. Kelly, Polow da Don	3:41
20.	"I Like Love" (Japan / United Kingdom bonus track)	R. Kelly	R. Kelly	3:20
21.	"Ooh Baby" (iTunes bonus track)	R. Kelly	R. Kelly	3:38
22.	"Good Sex" (featuring Twista) (iTunes bonus track)	R. Kelly, A. Harr, J. Jackson, C. Mitchell	R. Kelly, The Runners	3:40

Samples credits

• "Double Up" samples "Iceberg" performed by Tweet

Notes

• There are different iTunes versions of Double Up. Some features the track "Ringtone", as track 19; instead of 20 as on the physical version of the album. Other versions have "I Like Love" or the video for "I'm a Flirt" as bonus features.^[12]
• 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.
• The extended version of the song "Get Dirty" with an extended verse by Chamillionaire was released on R. Kelly's MySpace page.
• The 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. Since R. Kelly's conviction on sex trafficking charges in 2021,^[13] the video had been removed from YouTube due to a violation of its community guidelines involving sex offenders.^[14]

Chart positions

Weekly charts Chart (2007) Peak position Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)^[15] 74 Canadian Albums (Billboard)^[16] 19 Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)^[17] 34 German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)^[18] 46 Italian Albums (FIMI)^[19] 62 Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)^[20] 37 Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)^[21] 39 UK Albums (OCC)^[22] 10 US Billboard 200^[23] 1 US Digital Albums (Billboard)^[24] 4 US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard)^[25] 1

Year-end charts Chart (2007) Position US Billboard 200^[26] 50 US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard)^[27] 9

Certifications

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
United States (RIAA)^[29]	Platinum	1,200,000^[28]

See also

• List of Billboard 200 number-one albums of 2007
• List of Billboard number-one R&B/hip-hop albums of 2007

References

1. "Double Up Reviews, Ratings, Credits, and More at Metacritic". Metacritic. Retrieved May 14, 2012.
2. Hoffman, K. Ross. "R. Kelly: Double Up > Review" at AllMusic. Retrieved 3 September 2011.
3. Willman, Chris (May 25, 2007). "Double Up". Retrieved October 23, 2022.
4. Dombal, Ryan (June 5, 2007). "R. Kelly: Double Up". Pitchfork Media.
5. Boeckel, Gentry (June 8, 2007). "R. Kelly: Double Up". PopMatters.
6. Christgau, Robert. "CG: R. Kelly". RobertChristgau.com. Retrieved May 14, 2012.
7. Christgau, Robert (May 29, 2007). "R. Kelly: Double Up". Rolling Stone.
8. Henderson, Eric (May 31, 2007). "R. Kelly: Double Up". Slant Magazine.
9. Gennoe, Dan (June 1, 2007). . Yahoo! Music UK. Archived from the original on June 9, 2007.
10. "R. Kelly Flirts His Way To No. 1 Album Chart Debut". Billboard.
11. "R. Kelly Still Steamy On New Song Leaks". Billboard.com.
12. Double Up (Bonus Track Version) by R. Kelly, May 29, 2007, retrieved February 10, 2022
13. Closson, Troy (September 27, 2021). "R. Kelly Is Found Guilty of All Counts and Faces Life in Prison". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved February 10, 2022.
14. Kreps, Daniel (October 6, 2021). "Google Terminates R. Kelly's Official YouTube Channels". Rolling Stone. Retrieved February 10, 2022.
15. "Ultratop.be – R. Kelly – Double Up" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved July 8, 2016.
16. "R. Kelly Chart History (Canadian Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved July 8, 2016.
17. "Dutchcharts.nl – R. Kelly – Double Up" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved July 8, 2016.
18. "Offiziellecharts.de – R. Kelly – Double Up" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved July 8, 2016.
19. "Italiancharts.com – R. Kelly – Double Up". Hung Medien. Retrieved July 8, 2016.
20. "Swedishcharts.com – R. Kelly – Double Up". Hung Medien. Retrieved July 8, 2016.
21. "Swisscharts.com – R. Kelly – Double Up". Hung Medien. Retrieved July 8, 2016.
22. "R Kelly | Artist | Official Charts". UK Albums Chart. Retrieved July 8, 2016.
23. "R. Kelly Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved July 8, 2016.
24. "R. Kelly Chart History (Digital Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved July 8, 2016.
25. "R. Kelly Chart History (Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved July 8, 2016.
26. "Top Billboard 200 Albums – Year-End 2007". Billboard. Retrieved October 11, 2020.
27. "Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums – Year-End 2007". Billboard. Retrieved October 11, 2020.
28. "R. Kelly Still Steamy On New Song Leaks". Billboard.com.
29. "American album certifications – R. Kelly – Double Up". Recording Industry Association of America.

External links

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