R. Kelly was hardly a stranger to controversy in the early 2000s. In addition to being hit with 21 counts of child pornography in Chicago and 12 more in Polk County, FL, the beleaguered singer/producer faced various sex-related civil suits. All those scandals have, at times, overshadowed his music, which is regrettable because
Chocolate Factory has a lot going for it. Emphasizing romantic slow jams, and not as ambitious or risk-taking as 1998's
R -- which is arguably
Kelly's best, most essential release despite its own imperfections --
Chocolate Factory, like 2000's
TP-2.Com, tends to play it safe. But that doesn't mean
Chocolate Factory is without merit; what it lacks in ambition, it makes up for in terms of quality and craftsmanship. Many of the influences that have served
Kelly well on previous efforts continue to serve him well on this 2003 release; influences that range from
the Isley Brothers,
Marvin Gaye,
Al Green,
Michael Jackson, and
Stevie Wonder to
Prince,
Babyface, and hip-hop. All of those influences were noticeable on
Kelly's '90s albums, and they are still noticeable on
Chocolate Factory. Nonetheless,
Kelly has always been his own man; that is especially obvious when he features
Ronald Isley on "Showdown" (not to be confused with
the Isley Brothers' 1978 recording). Hearing
Kelly and
Isley side by side, listeners can easily see how
Kelly is able to draw on
Isley's influence while projecting a firm, recognizable identity of his own. One hopes that in the future,
Kelly will come out with some more albums that are as challenging as
R; even so,
Chocolate Factory will go down in history as a solid and pleasing, if somewhat predictable, addition to the Chicagoan's catalog. [This is the "clean" version of this release.] ~ Alex Henderson