R. Kelly's "I Admit It"

Overview

I Admit It is a bootleg album credited to R&B artist R. Kelly that was published to streaming platforms in December 2022. The title of the album and lyrical content of the songs references the singer's sexual abuse crimes, which he was convicted for in 2021, making it seem as if he is admitting to the crimes. The album inspired numerous memes and reactions and was removed from streaming platforms hours after its release. R. Kelly denied recording the music, claiming the voice on the album is not his. Allegedly, it was uploaded to streaming platforms by Universal Music Group-owned distributor Ingrooves and Real Talk Entertainment, who has no ties to Sony Music, R. Kelly's former label.

History

On December 9th, 2022, multiple news outlets, including TMZ,^[1] reported that R. Kelly had released a new album on streaming platforms titled I Admit It. The album comes in at around 56 minutes long and contains 13 tracks total. The album was reuploaded to YouTube^[2] that day by PluggingFr, garnering over 327,000 views in three days (shown below).

The most notable tracks on the album are, "I Admit It (I Did It), Pt. 1," "I Admit It (I Did It), Pt. 2" and "I Admit It (I Did It), Pt. 3." The songs were originally released to R. Kelly's SoundCloud in 2018 as a single 19-minute track but has since been deleted. The full track was reuploaded to YouTube^[3] in July of that year, garnering over 2.6 million views in four years (shown below). The song's lyrics feature Kelly singing about his trial and allegations, including deflection and denial of some aspects of the conviction.^[4]

I admit I fuck with all the ladies, that's both older and young ladies (ladies, yeah)
But tell me how they call it pedophile because that shit is crazy (crazy)
You may have your opinions, entitled to your opinions (opinions, opinions)
But really am I supposed to go to jail or lose my career because of your opinion
Yeah, go ahead and stone me, point your finger at me (stone me, yeah, yeah)
Turn the world against me, but only God can mute me (against me, mute me)

Album Removal

Hours after its release on December 9th, 2022, I Admit It was removed from streaming platforms. That day, Billboard^[5] reported that while the album was credited as released by Legacy Recordings, presumably Sony Music’s Legacy Recordings, a representative for the label denied publishing the album. The label was also reportedly looking into how streaming platforms were given the album. The article goes on to claim that I Admit It was uploaded by distributor Ingrooves, a company owned by Universal Music Group. According to the article, Ingrooves severed ties with Real Talk Entertainment, who allegedly released the album under a sub-label called Legacy Recordings, sharing a name with Sony Music’s Legacy Recordings.

TMZ^[6] published an article that day sharing that R. Kelly denied recording the album. He was quoted as saying, "I hope people recognized my voice and know that," suggesting it is not his voice on the album.

Online Presence

The album gained viral spread following its release on streaming platforms as many people believed it was a genuine release from R. Kelly. For example, on December 9th, 2022, Twitter^[7] user @SaycheeseDGTL shared that the album was released, garnering over 65,000 likes in three days. Twitter^[8] user @InfernoOmni posted a video where he reacts to a section of one of the songs, garnering over 9,300 likes in the same span of time (shown below).

nah r kelly can't be a real person pic.twitter.com/1KzUJf1Ovf

— Omni ☕️ (@InfernoOmni) December 9, 2022

On December 11th, TikToker^[9] @averagemusiclover911 posted a review of the album, giving it a 0/10, garnering over 846,000 views in a day (shown below, left). On the same day, TikToker^[10] @alwaysmarco posted a reaction to a section of "I Admit It (I Did It)" where he sings, "What's the definition of a cult? What's the definition of a sex slave?" garnering over 1.5 million views in the same span of time (shown below, right). While many people criticized R. Kelly for seemingly releasing an album from jail that denies his convictions, others praised Kelly for his musical ability and considered the album good.^[11][12]

Search Interest

External References