''Double Up'' is the eighth

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

by American singer-songwriter

R. Kelly Robert Sylvester Kelly (born January 8, 1967) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and sex offender convicted of racketeering and multiple sex offenses. During his recording career, Kelly sold over 75 million records worldwid ...

. It was released by

Jive Records Jive Records was an American independent record label founded by Clive Calder in 1981 as a subsidiary to the Zomba Group. In the US, the label had offices in New York City and Chicago. Jive was best known for its successes with hip hop, R&B, an ...

on May 29, 2007 in the United States, with distribution handled by

Zomba Label Group RCA/Jive Label Group was a short-lived American record label group, owned by Sony Music Entertainment and representing the merger of the RCA Music Group and Jive Label Group. The umbrella group was formed in 2007 under the name BMG Label Group, ...

. The album features the contributions with

guest appearance In show business, a guest appearance is the participation of an outsider performer (such as a musician or actor) in an event such as a music record or concert, show, etc., when the performer does not belong to the regular band, cast, or other p ...

s and also the

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...

s, which was handled by R. Kelly, along with

Swizz Beatz Kasseem Daoud Dean (born September 13, 1978), known professionally as Swizz Beatz, is an American record producer, rapper, disc jockey (DJ) and songwriter. Born and raised in New York City, Dean embarked on his musical career as a DJ. At the ag ...

, The Runners,

Snoop Dogg Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr. (born October 20, 1971), known professionally as Snoop Dogg (previously Snoop Doggy Dogg and briefly Snoop Lion), is an American rapper. His fame dates back to 1992 when he featured on Dr. Dre's debut solo single, " ...

, Khao,

Nelly Cornell Iral Haynes Jr. (born November 2, 1974), better known by his stage name Nelly, is an American rapper, singer, actor and entrepreneur. He embarked on his music career with the hip hop group St. Lunatics in 1993 and signed to Universal ...

Chamillionaire Hakeem Temidayo Seriki (born November 28, 1979), better known by his stage name Chamillionaire (), is an American rapper. He was the founder and an original member of The Color Changin' Click from 2001 until the group split in 2005. He began his ...

and

Polow da Don Jamal Fincher Jones (born October 15, 1977, or 1978), professionally known as Polow da Don, is an American record producer and rapper. Jones has produced a variety of singles for a multitude of artists including "Anaconda" by Nicki Minaj (2014) ...

. Its lead single, his remix to "I'm a Flirt", which features

guest vocal In show business, a guest appearance is the participation of an outsider performer (such as a musician or actor) in an event such as a music record or concert, show, etc., when the performer does not belong to the regular band, cast, or other ...

s from American rapper T.I. and American recording artist T-Pain; attaining the prominence of the success on the ''Billboard'' Top 40 charts, while it peaked at number one on the US Top Hot Rap Tracks chart.

Background

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

, R. Kelly has a video of him speaking out about his state on his success and his thoughts of collaborating with artists, such

Young Jeezy Jay Wayne Jenkins (born September 28, 1977), known by his stage name Jeezy (or Young Jeezy), is an American rapper. Signing to Def Jam Recordings in 2004, his major label debut, '' Let's Get It: Thug Motivation 101'', was released the followin ...

and

Ludacris Christopher Brian Bridges (born September 11, 1977), known professionally as Ludacris (, homophonous with 'ludicrous' in American English), is an American rapper, actor, record producer and record executive. Born in Champaign, Illinois, Ludac ...

, he thought, "why not put some of that magic on my album?" He stated that 70 percent of the record will be uptempo but he assured fans that "there will be some slow jams on there."

Promotion and release

Prior to the album's release, three songs were leaked onto the Internet: second single " Same Girl", which features

Usher Usher may refer to: Several jobs which originally involved directing people and ensuring people are in the correct place: * Usher (occupation) ** Church usher ** Wedding usher, one of the male attendants to the groom in a wedding ceremony ** Fiel ...

; "Rise Up", a song which only appeared on some releases, a tribute to the victims of the

Virginia Tech massacre The Virginia Tech shooting was a spree killer, spree shooting that occurred on April 16, 2007, comprising two attacks on the campus of the Virginia Tech, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Virginia, Blacks ...

in April 2007; also making an early appearance was a song titled "Blow It Up", at first supposed to be featured on the album but absent from the final track listing, mainly due to the inappropriate mood it would have created because of the presence of the Virginia Tech shooting tribute song "Rise Up". " Rock Star", which features

and

Kid Rock Robert James Ritchie (born January 17, 1971), known professionally as Kid Rock (also known as Bobby Shazam), is an American singer, songwriter and rapper. His style alternates between rock, hip hop, country, and metal. A self-taught musician, ...

, was released as the album's third single on September 4. A video for the song " Real Talk" was also made directly on

. On May 25, 2007, four days before the album's release, the explicit version of the album became available for purchase on

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...

. The edited version became available on May 29, 2007, with a bonus track version available a day later.

Chart performance

The album debuted at number one on the US ''Billboard'' 200, with first-week sales of 386,000 copies, making this his sixth and final album in his career to debut at number-one. To date, the album has sold 1,200,000 copies in the United States. On June 3, 2007 it entered the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts C ...

at #10.

Track listing

Samples credits * "Double Up" samples "Iceberg" performed by Tweet Notes * There are different

versions of ''Double Up''. Some features the track "Ringtone", as track 19; instead of 20 as on the physical version of the album. Other versions have "I Like Love" or the video for "

I'm a Flirt "I'm a Flirt" is a song by American rapper Bow Wow featuring American singer R. Kelly. The song was scheduled to be the second single released from Bow Wow's fifth album ''The Price of Fame'' but the decision was changed to "Outta My System" ...

" as bonus features. * On all versions (digital and CD) of ''Double Up'', "

" is presented in its censored form while the other songs are not. * On most international versions of the album, the song "Rise Up" is omitted in favor of the aforementioned bonus tracks. The song "Rise Up" was reportedly intended predominantly for North American listeners because it is about the

, something that some non-North American fans of R. Kelly may be unfamiliar with. * The extended version of the song "Get Dirty" with an extended verse by Chamillionaire was released on R. Kelly's MySpace page.

Chart positions

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

External links

'R. Kelly Previews New Album On The Phone''Album Credits At The Vault, Dubcc.com''R Kelly's ''Double Up'' Review' R Kelly Forums The R. Kelly Double Up Official Website
* {{Authority control 2007 albums R. Kelly albums Jive Records albums Albums produced by R. Kelly Albums produced by Polow da Don Albums produced by the Runners