Pitchfork

R. Kelly, self-proclaimed "king of r&b", and Kanye West, a fellow Chicagoan who also, um, thinks highly of himself, have combined powers on a remix of Graduation's "Flashing Lights". That doesn't turn the dynamic duo into Captain Planet, though Kells does introduce the track with the words, "Rulers of the world." While we don't get any new verses from West, the R. is in his usual guest-appearance form, waxing self-referential in that singularly smooth delivery over West's light-flashing synths and strings. Kelly strikes his tough-guy, go-getta pose, deflecting accusations of smoking crack before clarifying, "I do be asking where the weed at." All of which has...absolutely nothing to do with "Katrina with no FEMA", "Martin with no Gina", "a flight with no visa", or Mona Lisa coming home because "you know you can't Rome without Caesar." A previous "Flashing Lights" remix merely unearthed old Clipse verses, so we'll take what we can get here.

[original track from Graduation; out now on Island Def Jam]