Despite being locked up, R. Kelly recorded a remix of Chris Brown’s “Residuals” over a prison phone.
The 58-year-old convicted sex offender joined Tank’s challenge calling for artists to add verses to Brown’s 2023 track from his deluxe album 11:11. R. Kelly collaborator Rodney East posted the remix on Instagram, emphasizing it wasn’t AI-generated.
“They’re still selling my music, making all this money / Don’t even send shit to my folks for commissary,” Kelly sings on the remix, which can be heard below. “Though I’m in this place, I know I don’t deserve this / There’s questions on my mind.”
He also questions who’s collecting his royalties while he’s incarcerated: “Where is my money at? / Tell me who, who’s getting paid for my grind? / All of that’s supposed to be mine?” he sings. “Who gave you 34 years? / Who made you billions of dollars? / Who put the R in R&B? / I swear that it’s killing me in my cell, making me holler, dammit.”
Despite being in prison, R. Kelly released a remix of Chris Brown’s “Residuals” via a recorded phone call.
The remix follows R. Kelly’s recent appearance on the Inmate Tea with A&P podcast where he claimed to have written about 25 albums while incarcerated.
“Well, singing is a beautiful disease that’s incurable,” he explained when asked if he’s still creating music. “That’s not gonna happen, stopping singing. I don’t care where I’m at. I’m always singing, I’m always writing. I’ve written, like, 25 albums since I been in here, and right now I’m just working on getting out… I’m using patience as a tactic right now.”
In 2022, R. Kelly received a 30-year prison sentence after being convicted of federal racketeering and sex trafficking. Last year, his daughter Buku Abi (born Joanne Kelly) accused him of sexually abusing her.
