mixtape maestro (2.0)

The way R. Kelly has reacquainted himself with the urban charts thanks to a string of great cameos (Snoop Dogg’s “That’s That”, Young Jeezy’s “Go Getta”, Fat Joe’s “Make It Rain (Remix)”, Ciara’s must hear “Promise (Remix)”), it’s no surprise that Bow Wow decided not to release his Kells-assisted track “I’m A Flirt” as a single. But not one to let a potential smash fly by, Kelly hijacked the track for himself, omitting any trace of Bow Wow, and bringing along the slick rhyming TI and Tennessee protegee T Pain to make it his own new single. Whether the move is legal or not, Kelly’s “I’m A Flirt” completely trumps the original and only further solidifies the Pied Piper has the greatest artist in R&B today.

If you thought the bouncy “Ignition (Remix)” was the best drunken sing-a-long Kelly could come up with (and don’t act like you wouldn’t get all hyped if it came on the radio right now), then prepare yourself to be hit with another one. Atop woozy piano chords that embody the high one gets when they’ve had too much to drink and aren’t feeling nauseous just yet, R. Kelly and his brigade make it a point to claim all women (taken or not) as fair game. No one else can pull off such bold conceit or goofy lyrics (“A dog on the prowl when I’m walking through the mall/ If I could man I would flirt with all of y’all”) like Robert and it’s the reason why we love him, even when our morals cautious us we shouldn’t. T Pain, whose built a career off of similar loopiness, aims to be as dorkishly clever as his obvious mentor but the best he can do is ridiculously don himself “Teddy Pender-Ass” while questionably continuing to endorse the use of a vocoder. Meanwhile, the always reliable TI glides over the giddy beat with the ease of an Olympic skier.

How astounding is it that R. Kelly can still manage to push out such great songs in a career span that is quickly reaching twenty years? Even more so, how sad is for the state of R&B when the man doesn’t even have to try hard and still sounds miles more interesting than all the other male crooners hogging the airwaves?