R Kelly.
A new R Kelly album titled ‘I Admit’ is said to be a bootleg.
Representatives for Sony Music, which owns the rights to most of the jailed sex predator’s back catalogue, told “Variety” on Friday the record is an “unofficial release”.
“Variety” said minutes after reports a new Kelly album had come out it was “a bootleg”, but said “the copyright line on the album reads ‘Legacy Recordings’, which is Sony Music’s catalogue division”.
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It added about the release, which appeared on streamers including Spotify and Apple on Friday: “Sony’s rep confirmed that the release is not legitimate but did not immediately have further details.”
“Variety” added “reps for Spotify and Apple Music did not immediately have comment”.
Kelly, 55, born Robert Sylvester Kelly, is serving a 30-year prison sentence after being found guilty of multiple sexual misconduct charges last year in New York, and is awaiting trial in Illinois and other jurisdictions.
The album’s title comes from a 19-minute song he released in July 2018 in which he essentially denies the longstanding sexual-misconduct allegations he faces.
It is a collection of previously released and unreleased material mainly from the later years of Kelly’s recording career.
Several of the unreleased tracks have been shared online for up to 15 years, but not on big-name streaming sites until Friday.
Mail Online reported it is “unclear why Spotify and Apple have allowed the singer to upload new materials” and said it is “also unknown when the singer recorded the songs”.
In “I Admit It”, Kelly says he “f***** a couple of fans” and slams his victims' stories of being imprisoned and starved, rapping: “They’re brainwashed, really? Kidnapped, really? Can’t eat, really? Real talk, that s*** sound silly.”
Kelly’s victims have said he used his power and fame to manipulate and intimated them before luring them into a harem-like set-up.
Some described not being allowed to use their phones and being forced to stay awake for days at the request of Kelly and his team.