If R. Kelly’s relatively tame recent albums like Love Letter and Write Me Back have left you in a dangerously non-hoochie-huntin’ mood, never fear: R. Kelly has assured fans that R. Kelly will return to the sexy humping songs that made him famous. In a chat with the Associated Press, Kelly explains his recent foray into romantic R&B thusly:
When you’ve done twentysomething years, man, of giving people what they want, and satisfying people—people like to say they’re making babies off your music, they’re doing all this—it makes me feel good, but at the same time, it makes me say, "OK, now it’s time to go and do something that’s in me that I want to do and get out."
Kelly goes on to announce that his next album—Black Panties, natch—will be a return to raunchy form, as will his upcoming “Single Ladies” fall tour. (“We really want the single ladies up there, and where guys know there’s single ladies, they’re going to be in the mix, because they’re looking for a woman.”) Dates for the tour, which kicks off Oct. 13 in Columbia, South Carolina, are below:
Oct. 13—Township Auditorium—Columbia, South Carolina
Oct. 14—BJCC Concert Hall—Birmingham, Alabama
Oct. 18—Fox Theater—Atlanta, Georgia
Oct. 21—JL Knight Center—Miami, Florida
Oct. 23—Orpheum Theater—Memphis, Tennessee
Oct. 25—Arie Crown Theatre—Chicago, Illinois
Oct. 31—Paramount Theatre—Oakland, California
Nov. 2—Nokia Theatre LA Live—Los Angeles, California
Nov. 7—Jones Hall—Houston, Texas
Nov. 8—Verizon Theatre—Dallas, Texas
Nov. 10—Milwaukee Theatre—Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Nov. 11—P&G Theatre: Aronoff—Cincinnati, Ohio
Nov. 14—Palace Theater—Louisville, Kentucky
Nov. 15—Fox Theater—St. Louis, Missouri
Nov. 17—Fox Theater—Detroit, Michigan
Nov. 18—Fox Theater—Detroit, Michigan
Nov. 21—MSG Theatre—New York, New York
Nov. 24—Constitution Hall—Washington, D.C.
Nov. 27—Lyric Theater—Baltimore, Maryland
Nov. 29—Tower Theater—Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Nov. 30—Tower Theater—Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Dec. 2—Veterans Memorial—Columbus, Ohio
Dec. 6—State Theatre—Cleveland, Ohio
Dec. 7—Star Plaza—Merrillville, Indiana