| The first single off of R. Kelly's TP-2.com, "I Wish," might be a moving memorial to a dead friend, but the main theme on his latest CD is sex. The first tip-off that Kelly has left the spirit world to concentrate on nookie is the CD title, which refers back to his mid-'90s smash 12 Play. Back then, Kelly made his name with a take-no-prisoners (if somewhat obvious) sensuality. Yet now this loveman sounds conflicted and ill at ease. He might offer to "Strip for You," he might lay claim for a girl who's "Like a Real Freak," he might even promise his lady "The Greatest Sex," but his manner is so tentative and so self-reflective it makes one wonder how hot the loving could really be. Kelly has been expanding his creative repertoire over the course of his past two CDs, and his latest motif is a sort of stream-of-consciousness style that constantly returns to the main thrust of the argument: a circular groove. At its best (the triumphant "I Wish"), this style is emotional and emphatic. At its worst, or when Kelly insists on using it over and over, it's the musical equivalent of having a drunk poke you in the arm repeatedly to make his point. On "Fiesta," Kelly literally builds a song out of this annoying rhythmic tic, and it's like he's on a treadmill, never getting anywhere. TP-2.com is raw and romantic, but it becomes too redundant to truly sustain the passion. --Amy Linden |
