On Friday we shared social media reaction’s to a new R. Kelly album called ‘I Admit It”.
Now the Daily News is reporting that not only is the album removed from streaming platforms, but R. Kelly’s lawyers are also investigating its release in the first place.
“I Admit It” featured such song titles as “Freaky Sensation,” “I Found Love” and “Good Ole Days,” and was initially uploaded by Universal Music Group-owned distributor Ingrooves, TMZ reported. But by midafternoon the opus was removed from major services such as Spotify and Apple Music.
It was unclear how the 13-track project ended up on streaming platforms, but a representative for Sony’s Legacy Recordings said the company was not involved, according to Billboard.
“It’s an unauthorized release of music. It’s stolen music,” Kelly’s attorney Jennifer Bonjean told The Hollywood Reporter on Friday.
Bonjean says that “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.”
“When he was arrested, he had studio equipment that was taken,” she added. “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.”
I Admit included the 19-minute track, “I Admit It,” which Kelly released in 2018 on SoundCloud.
This time, the song was broken up into three parts to close the album, as he sings about the sexual abuse claims against him.
The digital credits showed that Kelly wrote each of the songs alone, with D. Johnson receiving producer credit.
Bonjean said she spoke to Kelly on Friday about the release. She said this has happened in the past — where his unauthorized music is uploaded online, but that’s usually on YouTube and not Spotify and Apple Music.
“He kind of is like, ‘Yeah, this has been going on. I’m not surprised,’” Bonjean said of Kelly’s response to the unofficial release. “But, of course, it’s upsetting. It’s very upsetting to see your body of work out there in that way.”
Kelly was sentenced to 30 years in prison earlier this year following a trial in New York where the jury found him guilty of sex trafficking and racketeering.
A second trial in Chicago ended with his conviction on charges of producing child pornography and enticing girls for sex.
