*R. Kelly reportedly has a new album recorded that he’s ready to serve to his adoring fans, but now that he’s no longer with SONY’s RCA, the R&B hitmaker is looking for a distributor.
Sources tell Billboard that Kelly recorded new music while he was under contract at RCA Records, but he reclaimed ownership of his unreleased work as part of his agreement to leave the label earlier this month.
The decision to part ways came weeks after the premiere of the six-part Lifetime documentary “Surviving R. Kelly,” which detailed the decades-long allegations of sexual misconduct against the singer.
It isn’t clear how Kelly will release his new album, but one source tells Billboard that his team had been looking for a new distributor for months, even before the controversial docuseries aired on Jan. 3.
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Kelly’s alleged abuses and perversions have been reported on extensively by Chicago music journalist Jim DeRogatis, who “Surviving R. Kelly” executive producer dream hampton called “a hero.”
“We wanted to build the case,” hampton told EW. “Jim DeRogatis is a hero and had already done that, but we’re living in a post-text world. I think Jim is doing this heroic work of keeping this story alive, he’s been on R. Kelly forever, but I think seeing these women on camera is gonna make a difference. When you ask the average American about presidential history, they know the most about JFK — not because they’ve read a dozen books about JFK, but because there are seven to 12 movies about him. We are people that need to see sh—. We don’t really read.”
Meanwhile, R. Kelly’s music catalog will reportedly remain with Sony, for now, and still be available for purchase.
Will you buy his new album when it drops?
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