The Buffet

The Buffet
Studio album by R. Kelly
Released	December 11, 2015
Recorded	2014–15
Genre	R&B hip hop soul electronic R&B country
Length	48:18
Label	RCA
Producer	R. Kelly (also exec.) Dr. Luke Cirkut A.C. JMIKE Cem T. J-Holt D'Mile Cashmere Cat Ammo Bigg Makk Donnie Lyle Maejor Samuel Hindes Keyel Walker S1 Epikh Pro Andre Manuel
R. Kelly chronology
Black Panties (2013) The Buffet (2015) 12 Nights of Christmas (2016)
Deluxe version cover
Singles from The Buffet
"Backyard Party" Released: August 21, 2015 "Switch Up" Released: November 6, 2015

The Buffet is the thirteenth studio album by American R&B singer and songwriter R. Kelly. It was released on December 11, 2015, by RCA Records. The album features guest appearances from Lil Wayne, Jhene Aiko, Ty Dolla $ign, Jeremih, Juicy J, Wizkid and Tinashe.^[1][2] The album also marks the debut of Kelly's own daughter, Joann Kelly going by the stage name Ariirayé.^[3]

Background

The album serves as a follow-up to its predecessor Black Panties (2013). In May 2015, he announced that he has decided to change the title from White Panties to The Buffet, because "it's just a variety of things" and would contain a mix of different genres of music.^[4] Kelly reportedly had wrote over 462 songs during the development of the album, from which he made his final album selection.^[5]

Singles

"Backyard Party" was released as the albums's first official single on August 21, 2015. The written credits and the serving of its production that was handled and provided by R. Kelly. The song peaking at number 6 on the US Adult R&B Airplay.^[6]

"Switch Up" was released as the album's second official single on November 6, 2015. The song features guest appearances from an American rapper Lil Wayne and a fellow R&B recording artist Jeremih, with the writing and the production that was handled and provided by R. Kelly himself, along with J-Holt and Cem T.

Promotional singles

"Marching Band" featuring Juicy J, and "Wake Up Everybody" were released as part of the instant-great tracks, along with the album's pre-order on iTunes.

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	60/100[7]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[8]
The Independent	[9]
NME	3/5[10]
The New York Times	(mixed)[11]
Rolling Stone	[12]
Spin	7/10[13]
USA Today	[14]

Upon its release, The Buffet received mixed reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 60, based on 9 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews."^[7] Andy Kellman of AllMusic awarded the album three stars out of five, stating that the album "does have more dimensions than Black Panties" while also pointing out the fact he "remains driven to as ever to take a metaphorical theme to a comedic extreme and then deviate from it in direct and explicit fashion."^[8] Andy Gill of The Independent gave the album three stars out of five, saying that the album by all accounts is "far from Kelly's best work" while also stating that it's "an OK effort overall." ^[15] Dan Weiss of Spin awarded the album with a 7 out of 10, saying that the record is "like the 12 that came before it: hard to enjoy objectively." He also adds that its "better than just another R. Kelly album, but not enough to be worth saying so outside of a review, much less on a year-end list; call it a good one-night stand."^[13]

Commercial performance

The album debuted at number 16 on the US Billboard 200 chart, with first-week sales of 39,000 equivalent copies (36,000 in pure album sales).^[16] It is R. Kelly's lowest-charting album ever. It was the eleventh best-selling album of the week.^[17] The Buffet was the thirteenth solo album by Kelly to debut at number one on the Billboard's Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums.^[18] In the second week, the album sold 26,000 equivalent copies (25,000 in pure album sales).^[19]

Track listing

Standard version
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"The Poem"	Robert Kelly	R. Kelly	1:19
2.	"Poetic Sex"	Kelly Samuel Hindes Mikano Fayette Firman Guion	Kelly Hindes	4:21
3.	"Anything Goes" (featuring Ty Dolla $ign)	Kelly Tyrone Griffin, Jr. Dernst Emile II	Kelly D'Mile	4:35
4.	"Let’s Make Some Noise" (featuring Jhené Aiko)	Kelly Jhené Chilombo Keyel Walker Anton Alexander Johntá Austin Bryan-Michael Cox Kevin Hicks	Kelly Walker	4:14
5.	"Marching Band" (featuring Juicy J)	Kelly Jordan Houston Lukasz Gottwald Jeremy "JMIKE" Coleman Gamal "LunchMoney" Lewis Ryan Ogren Samuel "A." Alexander Castillo "C." Vasquez	Dr. Luke Cirkut A.C. JMIKE Kelly	3:56
6.	"Switch Up" (featuring Lil Wayne and Jeremih)	Kelly Dwayne Carter, Jr. Jeremih Felton Jordan "J-Holt" Holt Cem "Cem T." Tomak Matthew Coleman Lisa Antwil Richard Maclean Brittany "Starrah" Hazzard	Kelly J-Holt Cem T.	3:24
7.	"Wanna Be There" (featuring Ariirayé)	Kelly Larry Griffin, Jr. Stuart "Epikh Pro" Lowery	Kelly S1 Epikh Pro	4:15
8.	"All My Fault"	Kelly	Kelly	3:25
9.	"Wake Up Everybody"	Kelly	Kelly	3:41
10.	"Get Out of Here With Me"	Kelly Donnie Lyle	Kelly Lyle	4:17
11.	"Backyard Party"	Kelly	Kelly	3:32
12.	"Sextime"	Kelly Dorrell "Bigg Makk" Mays Andre Manuel	Kelly Bigg Makk Manuel	4:14
13.	"Let’s Be Real Now" (featuring Tinashe)	Kelly Tinashe Kachingwe Magnus August Høiberg Joshua Coleman	Kelly Cashmere Cat Ammo	3:05
Total length:				48:18

Deluxe version (bonus tracks)
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
14.	"I Just Want to Thank You" (featuring Wizkid)	Kelly Ayodeji Balogun Brandon Green	Kelly Maejor	3:23
15.	"Keep Searchin’"	Kelly	Kelly	4:31
16.	"Sufferin’"	Kelly	Kelly	4:00
17.	"I Tried"	Kelly Mays	Kelly Bigg Makk	4:09
18.	"Barely Breathin’"	Kelly	Kelly	4:45
Total length:				69:06

Japan bonus tracks
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
19.	"Damn Right"			3:13
Total length:				72:19

Personnel

Credits adapted from AllMusic.^[20]

R. Kelly - Primary Artist, Producer, Vocals, Arranger, Composer, Mixing A.C. - Instrumentation, Producer, Programming Jhené Aiko - Featured Artist, Composer Ty Dolla $ign - Featured Artist, Composer Lil Wayne - Composer, Featured Artist Jeremih - Featured Artist, Composer Ariirayé - Featured Artist Juicy J - Featured Artist, Vocals Tinashé - Featured Artist, Composer Anton Alexander - Composer Saul Alexander - Composer Ammo - Producer Lisa Antwil - Composer Angel Onhel Aponte - Engineer Johnta Austin - Composer Bigg Makk - Bass, Producer Cashmere Cat - Producer Jeff Chestek - Engineer Maddox Chhim - Assistant Cirkut - Instrumentation, Producer, Programming Jeremy Coleman - Composer Joshua Coleman - Composer Matthew Coleman - Composer Bryan-Michael Cox - Composer Gared Crawford - Violin Samantha Crawford - Violin Antonio Daniels - Keyboards DJ Wayne Williams - A&R Dr. Luke - Instrumentation, Producer, Programming Jennifer Eashoo - Production Coordination Dernst "D'mile" Emile II - Composer, Producer Blake Espy - Violin Arnaud Fayette-Mikano - Composer Régis Fayette-Mikano - Composer Rachael Findlen - Assistant Ghislaine Fleischmann - Violin Mike Foster - Engineer Abel Garibaldi - Engineer, Mixing, Programming Serban Ghenea - Mixing Clint Gibbs - Engineer Larry Gold - Conductor, String Arrangements Erwin Gorostiza - Creative Design Lukasz Gottwald - Composer

Larry Griffin Jr. - Composer Firmin Fabrice Guion - Composer John Hanes - Mixing Engineer Kevin Hicks - Composer Samuel Hindes - Composer, Producer J Holt - Producer Jordan Holt - Composer Magnus August Høiberg - Composer J Grand - A&R Jaycen Joshua - Mixing J-MIKE - Instrumentation, Producer, Programming Ryan Kaul - Assistant Jonathan Kim - Viola Emma Kummrow - Violin Dave Kutch - Mastering Christian Lantry - Photography Gamal Lewis - Composer Jennie Lorenzo - Cello Stuart Lowery - Composer Donnie Lyle - Bass, Composer, Guitar, Musical Director, Producer, Programming Richard MacLean - Composer Andre Manuel - Composer, Producer Fabian Marasciullo - Mixing Dorrell Mays - Composer Luigi Mazzocchi - Violin McCoy - Assistant Ian Mereness - Engineer, Mixing, Programming Megan Nimerosky - Assistant Ryan Ogren - Composer Karl Petersen - Assistant Engineer Epikh Pro - Producer Irene Richter - Production Coordination S1 - Producer John Shullman - Assistant Joan Sullivan - Financial Director Cem T - Composer, Producer Alexander Castillo Vasquez - Composer Vern - Assistant Alfonso Walker - Keyboards Keyel Walker - Composer, Producer Brian Warfield - Engineer

Charts

Weekly charts Chart (2016) Peak position US Billboard 200[21] 16 US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard)[22] 1

Release history

Country	Date	Format(s)	Version(s)	Label
United States	December 11, 2015[23]	CD digital download	Standard deluxe	RCA

See also

• List of Billboard number-one R&B/Hip-Hop albums of 2016
• List of 2015 albums

References

1. "R.Kelly – The Buffet (Cover & Tracklist)". xclusiveszone.net. Retrieved 3 December 2015.
2. "R. Kelly sets pre-order of 'The Buffet'; official release date is Dec. 11". www.cleveland.com. Retrieved 3 December 2015.
3. "Inside R. Kelly's Most Adventurous Album Ever". rollingstone.com. Retrieved 3 December 2015.
4. "R. Kelly Announces New Album "Buffet"". hotnewhiphop.com. Retrieved 3 December 2015.
5. "R. Kelly says he wrote 462 songs for The Buffet, and they're all hits". ew.com. Retrieved 3 December 2015.
6. http://www.billboard.com/artist/277270/r-kelly/chart?f=364
7. "The Buffet Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 2015-12-21.
8. Andy Kellman. "The Buffet - R. Kelly | Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards". AllMusic. Retrieved 2015-12-11.
9. Andy Gill (December 11, 2015). "R Kelly, The Buffet: Album review - Reviews - Music". London: The Independent. Retrieved 2015-12-11.
10. Cottingham, Chris (11 December 2015). "R. Kelly - 'The Buffet'". NME. Retrieved 11 December 2015.
11. "New CDs". The New York Times. 2008-06-16.
13. Weiss, Dan. "R. Kelly, 'The Buffet' Review". Spin.com. Retrieved 2015-12-11.
14. Gardner, Elysa (2015-12-11). "Album of the week: R. Kelly's 'The Buffet'". Usatoday.com. Retrieved 2015-12-12.
15. Gill, Andy (11 December 2015). "The Buffet review:". The Independent. Retrieved 11 December 2015.
16. "hiphopdx | ♛: The Buffet First Week Sales". hiphopdx.com. Retrieved December 21, 2015.
17. "R. Kelly Album & Song Chart History". Billboard. Top Album Sales for R. Kelly. January 2, 2016. Retrieved December 22, 2015.
18. "R. Kelly's 'Buffet' Debuts at No. 1 on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Chart". Billboard. December 23, 2015. Retrieved April 23, 2016.
19. Smith, Trevor (December 30, 2015). "Charts Don't Lie: December 30th". hotnewhiphop. Retrieved January 1, 2016.
20. "The Buffet - R. Kelly - Credits - AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved 21 December 2015.
21. "R. Kelly – Chart history" Billboard 200 for R. Kelly. Retrieved December 22, 2015.
22. "R. Kelly – Chart history" Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums for R. Kelly. Retrieved December 22, 2015.
23. "The Buffet (Deluxe Version) by R. Kelly". iTunes Store. Apple Inc. Retrieved 3 December 2015.