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R. Kelly’s Shocking New Song from Behind Bars

BBG News

This week, R. Kelly faced intense criticism online following the release of a new song that he reportedly recorded while in prison.

58-year-old singer, currently serving a total of 31 years in prison due to child pornography, sex trafficking, and racketeering charges, is said to have contributed a new verse to Chris Brown’s 2024 song remnants, reportedly collaborating with another convicted felon.

Kelly found an unexpected, low-tech method to share his verses from the medium-security federal penitentiary in North Carolina; he utilized the prison’s telephone system for this purpose.

Rodney East, a well-known music producer, shared what he claims is an authentic audio clip of R. Kelly, supposedly recorded while in prison, rather than an artificial intelligence simulation mimicking his voice, on social media this past Monday.

As a dedicated follower of the rhythm and blues scene, I hopped on board with a popular viral singing challenge known as “Residuals.” Many other stars had previously contributed their unique verses to this trend, even though it was nearing its end when I decided to give it a try.

The audio begins with a pre-recorded female voice saying, “This call originates from a federal correctional facility,” followed by the singer introducing himself as “Robert Kelly.

A post shared by Rodney L. East (@rodney.east)

The voice, sounding like Kelly’s, queries: “Who is cashing all my checks? Where is my money kept?” and also asks: “Who’s earning from my hard work? Everything should rightfully be mine.

The performer sings on: “‘Who provided you with 34 years, who amassed you billions of dollars, who added the ‘R’ in ‘R&B’, swear it’s draining me. Are you still making me shout?’

If the song supposedly included Kelly’s lead vocals, then it would have required editing or alteration for the version East shared, as it seemed Kelly had only sung backup harmonies to himself.

It appears he managed to record various vocal tones for several phone calls, which were later mixed by East or another person, prior to releasing the verse on social media.

But with advanced AI technology, it could potentially generate various vocal layers, or even manipulate another person’s voice to sound like R. Kelly’s.

There’s also a strange discrepancy between the captions listing the lyrics and the audio.

The video displays the lyrics for one line as ‘Don’t even send s*** to my books for commissary,’ but Kelly appears to be singing ‘commentary’ instead, which doesn’t seem to fit the context, and is a type of mistake that could potentially occur in an AI-generated song.

On platform X (previously known as Twitter), responses to the unveiling of the verse were predominantly unfavorable, yet some supporters of R. Kelly continued to voice their opinions.

One disgruntled user commented, ‘People are praising R. Kelly simply because he sings well, as if they never stand up against anything.’

It was stated by another individual that the Residuals challenge might have been ‘formally compromised’ since Kelly is said to have attempted it.

One user commented in disbelief, “They seem to be quietly reintroducing R. Kelly into society.” They added, “It’s surprising to see him performing a Residuals Remix on a jail phone, it’s just so sad 😭😭😭😭.

However, some people were appreciating the supposed lyrics of Kelly, as one Instagram user commented, “He’s STILL THE MASTER OF R&B!!!”.

The other person acknowledged that Kelly is deserving of jail time but added, “I’m not going to hold it against him…he absolutely nailed the residuals challenge.” (rolling my eyes)

Although the person thinks Kelly deserves to go to jail, they are not going to blame him because he did exceptionally well in the residual challenge. They expressed their disapproval with a sigh and eye-roll.

It was unclear whether the audience believed the verse was performed by another person or generated entirely by an artificial intelligence.

Users on Facebook quipped about the authenticity of the R. Kelly remix, with one saying jokingly, “The veterans believe that’s the genuine R. Kelly on that residuals remix,” and another commenting sarcastically, “Some people are going after a fake R. Kelly ‘Residuals’ remix. Yall are truly reaching new levels of pathetic.

By August 2023, Kelly’s victims had reportedly only received approximately $27,000 in compensation from him. However, due to this amount falling significantly short of what they were owed (over $500,000 at the time), a judge decided that royalties from his songwriting earnings should be seized and used to settle the remaining debt.

Kelly is currently scheduled to be released in December of 2045. 

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2025-03-12 10:19

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