Double Up is nowhere near as introspective as you would expect from artists as embattled as R. Kelly. Collaborations from Swizz Beatz, Snoop Dogg and others
feel like artists dropping in to tell Kelly to keep his head up and obliging him with their talent on lukewarm tracks. "Tryin' To Get A Number - (featuring
Nelly)" fails with a melody that sounds like Nelly's "Air Force Ones" on life support.

But then cuts like "Get Dirty - (featuring Chamillionaire)" come on, banging a Lil' John-ready groove that will catch up to you sometime, somewhere in some club this summer. Other notables are "Freaky In The Club", "I'm A Flirt - (featuring T.I./T-Pain)" and "Hook It Up - (featuring Huey)".

But you don't want to let "The Pied Piper" off the hook. "The Zoo" comes to the rescue, beating out "Sex Planet" and "Sweet Tooth" as the most laughable
attempt at metaphor in R. Kelly's career. Referring to his intended female's impending lovemaking with him to be like "monkeys… swinging on vines" is not only a bonanza for lazy white power groups, but the best warning as to why R&B singers should not do X and watch the Animal Planet channel while composing.

Kels does bring wit and conviction with Usher in "Same Girl". The tribute to Virginia Tech tragedy "Rise Up", although timely, seems short and out of place
along with the subject matter and sound of the rest of the album. It, along with the album as a whole, feels like Kelly and his attorneys flicking you and his
child pornography charges a diamond ring-encrusted bird off the opinion that R&B doesn't have to be soulful anymore, just sellable.