The R Kelly saga continues with the frankly titled double album Happy People/U Saved Me. That’s right, Mr Robert Kelly, also known as “the Pied Piper” and now calling himself “the Musical Weatherman”, is back, and clearly he’s as eccentric as ever.
The first disc Happy People consists of 11 tracks based around a jaunty “steppers’ rhythm”. In layman’s terms you might describe it as a swing-beat, and here Kelly has borrowed the dancehall technique of recording numerous tracks over the same “riddim”, though that’s the point where any dancehall connection ends.
The most striking thing about Happy People is its relentless cheerfulness, which is astonishing given that R Kelly is still facing a child pornography suit. Sample the title track when he croons “Even when we know we’re going through hard times, what do we do? Keep on smiling!” Sounds weird? It’s beyond weird! But it’s so quintessentially Kelly that it’s near impossible to resist.
U Saved Me, the second disc, is predominantly a gospel record but it too is marked with a down to earth honesty that is incredibly affecting despite its intense sentimentality. The vibe on U Saved Me is actually most reminiscent of Mike Skinner’s A Grand Don’t Come For Free, with Kelly abandoning rhythmic rules and structures and adopting a narrative croon to speak candidly and in depth about battling cancer, about his marriage, about his drug problems, but mostly about life.
Happy People is naively and magnificently jubilant, and U Saved Me is a direct and moving autobiography about one man and the trials in his life. Give the guy a chance.