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Bootleg album of jailed R&B star R. Kelly surfaces on Spotify and Apple Music: media

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Agence France-Presse

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="R&amp;B singer R. Kelly (center) arrives for a child support hearing at the Cook County Circuit Court at the Daley Center in Chicago, on March 6, 2019. Tannen Maury, EPA-EFE." src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2022/entertainment/06/29/20220629-rkelly.jpg"/><figcaption>R&amp;B singer R. Kelly (center) arrives for a child support hearing at the Cook County Circuit Court at the Daley Center in Chicago, on March 6, 2019. <em>Tannen Maury, EPA-EFE.</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>A previously unreleased album by disgraced US R&amp;B singer R. Kelly, who is serving a 30-year sentence for sex offenses, dropped Friday on the Spotify and Apple Music platforms, a recording that the music press described as a bootleg. </p><p>The release of the album, called &quot;I Admit It,&quot; was first reported by the celebrity entertainment site TMZ. It featured 13 tracks, including the 19-minute title song, which had been published on SoundCloud in 2018 before Kelly was convicted of sex crimes against teenage girls and producing child pornography. </p><p>Spotify did not respond to an AFP request for comment and a few hours after the initial reports by TMZ and the Hollywood Reporter, the disc was no longer available on either music platform. </p><p>Questioned by Variety, a representative for Sony Music, which owns Kelly&#x27;s musical rights, said the album had been briefly and unofficially made public, which, according to Variety, meant it had been a bootleg copy. </p><p>A lawyer for Kelly, Jennifer Bonjean, told Variety the singer and his entourage were not behind this release and that her client &quot;is having intellectual property stolen from him.&quot; </p><p>The singer, known worldwide for his hit &quot;I Believe I Can Fly&quot; and who sold 75 million records, was found guilty in September 2021 in a New York court of having masterminded a &quot;system&quot; of sexual exploitation of young women for three decades, including teenage girls. </p><p>For these sexual crimes, the federal court in Brooklyn sentenced him to 30 years in prison. </p><p>Last September, a court in Chicago, Illinois, found him guilty of the production of child pornography and embezzlement from a minor. </p><p>He could face a sentence of 10 to 90 years in prison, according to federal prosecutors in Illinois. </p><p>The lawsuits against Kelly were seen as a major milestone in the #MeToo movement, as the majority of plaintiffs in the case were Black women. </p><p>For decades, Kelly&#x27;s stellar career had been dogged by rumors and suspicions of sexual violence. He had long managed to silence them with financial agreements that included confidentiality clauses.</p><div><strong>FROM THE ARCHIVES:</strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=1611899" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div>

A previously unreleased album by disgraced US R&B singer R. Kelly, who is serving a 30-year sentence for sex offenses, dropped Friday on the Spotify and Apple Music platforms, a recording that the music press described as a bootleg. 