What appeared to be the release of a new R. Kelly album hit streaming platforms on Friday, to the surprise of many, as the R&B star remains behind bars, serving a 30-year sentence after being convicted of federal racketeering and sexual assault allegations.
The album, which was quickly removed from both Apple Music and Spotify after news of its release broke, said it came from Sony’s Legacy Recordings, but a spokesperson for the music company, which owns the rights to much of part of Kelly’s recordings, said that was not the case and declined to comment further.
Jennifer Bonjean, Kelly’s attorney, called it a case of “theft of music” and argued that Kelly did not learn of the album’s release until Friday afternoon.
“It’s an unauthorized release of music,” he told our sister station NBC Chicago.
Apple and Spotify also did not respond to requests for comment regarding the album’s release and subsequent takedown.
The album was titled “I Admit It”, in reference to Kelly’s 19-minute song released in 2018 in which she denied the allegations against her. It contained 13 songs, with titles like “I Admit It (I Did)”, which is divided into three parts.
Kelly, 55, was sentenced in June to 30 years in prison in a federal trial in New York where he was found guilty of extortion and sex trafficking.
