The list of accusations against R. Kelly is so long, it took a 19-minute song to address them.
The controversial singer, who has been accused of running a sex cult and holding women against their will at his Chicago and Atlanta homes, tackles the topic and then some in a new, very long song called “I Admit,” which he previewed on Instagram Live on Sunday. While the 51-year-old cops to the fact that he’s no angel (for example: “I admit, I admit that I did /I f***ed my girlfriend’s best friend / Yeah I tapped that in the back of my Benz”) and says he’s “sorry for my sins,” he hits back against the cult claims that were first brought to light one year ago.
While at first Kelly is seemingly dismissive about the whole thing — singing, “What’s the definition of a cult?/ What’s the definition of a sex slave? / Go to the dictionary, look it up / Let me know I’ll be here waiting” — he then denies the allegations. The claims were at first made by the parents of women living with the Grammy winner but later included women who alleged they were manipulated, controlled, and abused by Kelly. (One woman claimed the star knowingly gave her a sexually transmitted disease.)
“Say I’m abusing these women. What the f***? That’s some absurd s***,” Kelly sings. “They brainwashed, really? Kidnapped, really? Can’t eat, really? Real talk that s*** sounds silly.”
His defense also includes lines about how he admits he’s “a freak” who used to “go to strip clubs every week” and he admits that he likes to “f***” with ladies “both older and young” (“tell me how they call it pedophile because that s*** is crazy”). He then awkwardly details how the sex he has is always consensual, singing, “I admit that I got some girls who love me to pull their hair / And I admit that they love to talk dirty while I pull their hair /Some like me to spank ’em /Some like to give brain / And what some of these girls want is too much for a radio station.”
Kelly also compared his relationship style to that of Hugh Hefner, who died last year. He said that when the Playboy founder and publisher “left the world, he had a million girls, but we are always going to love Hugh Hefner.”
Kelly, who describes himself as “the most disrespected artist” and clearly sees himself as a victim, also addresses Spotify’s decision to no longer promote his music at the height of the #MuteRKelly movement this past spring. (Apple Music and Pandora later followed suit.) “Spotify, took me off they playlist / I admit that I, been underrated / I’m not convicted, not arrested, but dragged my name in the dirt,” he sings.
In the song, Kelly also revealed that he was molested as a young boy and sang about the late Aaliyah, with whom he had a relationship when she was a minor.
Kelly was trending on Twitter Monday morning with people weighing in on his lyrical defense — and it wasn’t pretty.