Pitchfork

R. Kelly's new album is due out in May, and he has recently revealed quite a bit of information about it in a ridiculous, six-minute long phone message you can hear by calling (312) 278-3965. The number patches callers directly to the "Chocolate Factory," i.e. a tinny recording of Kelly introducing snippets of songs from the album, which he says is called Double Up.

"Two hands holding on to each other: that's how I look at r&b and hip hop," says Kelly, explaining that Double Up's focus is on just the kind of gray area between the two that has been such fertile ground for him recently. He goes on to say the record is about 70% hip hop, which makes sense since his guests include Kanye West, Snoop Dogg, Young Jeezy, Ludacris, Rick Ross, and Young Dro.

As for the songs themselves, they sound pretty awesome, given the circumstances. Titles include "Double Up", "Rock Star", "Put Some Money on It", "Freakin' in the Club", and "Blow It Up", which may also be called "Blowin' Up"...it's hard to tell. And the title of the Kanye song seems to be "Hook It Up". (As previously reported, the album's first single is "I'm a Flirt (remix)" featuring T.I. and T-Pain).

Our favorite two song titles/concepts, however, are "Pull Your Hair", which Kelly says is for the ladies ("Y'all gonna love it, mentally and physically"), and "Leave Your Name", a song about phone messages.

Only the kind of guy who says things like "I feel real Hollyhood right now" could get away with this. Mr. Kelly, we salute you.

After the message is over, callers can leave their own messages for Kelly or join some sort of phone fan club. And while we don't necessarily recommend doing either of those things, the message alone is worth whatever long distance charges your phone company charges you to call Chicago.

The video trailer for the album, which includes the phone number, is below.