Spotify and Apple Music have pulled R. Kelly’s new album, I Admit It, from their respective platforms. The disgraced singer’s lawyer, Jennifer Bonjean, says he wasn’t involved in the project’s release.
“It’s stolen music,” Bonjean told The Hollywood Reporter. “A police report was filed some time ago because his masters were stolen, but there’s not much of an appetite to investigate these things. People have had access to his intellectual property rights that they are attempting to profit off of, but unfortunately that does not include Mr. Kelly.”
She continued: “When he was arrested, he had studio equipment that was taken. His masters are missing. The music is somewhere out there, but who has it and who has profited off it — we don’t know entirely.”
The 13-song album hit streaming services by complete surprise on Friday. Ingrooves, a distributor owned by Universal Music Group and without ties to Sony Music, released the album, according to Billboard.
In the lyrics, Kelly addresses the various allegations leveled against him that have landed him a 30-year prison sentence.
“What’s the definition of a cult? What’s the definition of a sex slave?” Kelly asks on one of the tracks. “Go to the dictionary, look it up/Let me know, I’ll be here waiting … I’m not gonna let y’all steal my joy/I’m just gon’ keep on doin’ me/Now I don’t know what else to say except ‘I’m so falsely accused.’”
Kelly is currently in prison following a jury’s decision to find him guilty of racketeering and sex trafficking in a New York federal court.
[Via]