R. Kelly Released An Album Today And, Quite Honestly, No One Gives A Shit (Says R. Kelly)

R. Kelly released his first album in two years today (December 11), titled The Buffet. It’s his 13th studio LP, a number that appears to be quite unlucky, if we’re to go by two rants the 48-year-old R&B crooner posted on his Facebook wall this week. For it’s here that Kelly whinges on about the lack of support — by the record company! by the community! by record-buyers! — The Buffet has received.

“I’m still today doing my best and doing what I can do,” Kelly states in the first part (posted December 9) of two videos. “But I can only do so much — meaning, I bust my ass going around singing the country, you know, doing shows and a lot of things, you know, to survive. Gotta pay the rent and whatever.” He eventually goes on to say, “C’mon — at some point we gotta start supporting each other. Everybody support — every other category of music supports each other. They do.”

The singer implores his “people to get behind me,” seemingly oblivious to the fact that the reason the five albums he’s released since 2007’s Double Up have tanked is because of the public’s increased awareness of the hefty sexual allegations against him that have surfaced in the press, a bulk of which have to do with teenage girls and child pornography.

Or maybe it did finally sunk in. In the second video, posted two days later (on December 11), a cigar-wielding Kelly says, “I don’t think we support each other. You know, and I’m not talking about just in music. I’m talking about in any situation. The minute somethin’ goes down or the minute somebody says somethin’ about an artist or about a culture, you know, we bring each other down. We don’t give each other the benefit of the doubt. We don’t look into the story. We just believe what we hear…’This is the worst person in the world.’ We just wanna bring each other down.”

Kelly tries to somehow tie those who support his album The Buffet into the grander scheme of folks landing “bigger jobs” and achieving “success in our culture,” but it all just progressively gets more depressing.

Anyway, The Buffet is out today. Dig in, if you will.

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