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Down Low (Nobody Has to Know)

"Down Low (Nobody Has to Know)"
Down Low (Nobody Has to Know) (R. Kelly) album cover.jpg
Single by R. Kelly featuring The Isley Brothers
from the album R. Kelly
Released December 11, 1995
Format
Recorded 1995
Genre
Length 4:49
Label Jive
Songwriter(s) Robert Kelly
Producer(s) R. Kelly
R. Kelly singles chronology
"You Remind Me of Something"
(1995)
"Down Low (Nobody Has to Know)"
(1995)
"I Can't Sleep Baby (If I)"
(1996)
"You Remind Me of Something"
(1995)
"Down Low (Nobody Has to Know)"
(1995)
"I Can't Sleep Baby (If I)"
(1996)
The Isley Brothers singles chronology
"I'm So Proud"
(1994) I'm So Proud1994
"Down Low (Nobody Has to Know)"
(1995) Down Low (Nobody Has to Know)1995
"Let's Lay Together"
(1996) Let's Lay Together1996

"Down Low (Nobody Has to Know)" is an R&B song about infidelity, released as a single by R. Kelly and featuring The Isley Brothers, on his self-titled album, in 1995. The song was a hit, peaking at number four on the Billboard Hot 100 and reaching number one on the R&B Singles Chart for seven weeks, making it Kelly's fifth single to do so on the latter.

The music video was directed by Hype Williams and R. Kelly. The song was a tongue-in-cheek song that had the narrator fooling around with another man's woman and telling the woman to keep their relationship as a closely guarded secret, hence the chorus "Keep it on the down low / Nobody has to know." While Kelly sings along, the "husband", Ronald Isley, sings in his trademark falsetto exclaiming "How could you go so low?"

The music video to the song was as popular as the song. It was one of Kelly's first self-directed videos, and was the first large-scale video Kelly had done. Introducing Isley as the character Mr. Frank Biggs, a mob boss who employs Kelly. Mr. Biggs sends for Kelly, telling him he's going on a business trip and wants Kelly to take care of his wife, Lila Heart (played by Garcelle Beauvais), explaining "You know Lila means everything to me", even leaving him money to take her out. Biggs tells Kelly "Take her out, take her shopping, Give her anything she wants, But you are never to touch her." Kelly replies "Hey, man, you can trust me," in which Biggs responds, "don't fuck me, Kelly". Kelly plays out the lyrics to the song by having Mr. Biggs go out of town on business while Kelly and Lila go out on the town. At one point, Lila shows up at Kelly's home where they make love, despite Mr. Biggs telling Kelly to not get physically involved with her.

Later that night, Biggs and his bodyguards break into the room. Kelly and Mr. Biggs's bodyguards fight; after injuring Kelly, the bodyguards turn on Lila. Dropping Kelly off in a desert location, bloodied and beaten, Mr. Biggs angrily shouts, "Look at me! Look at me! I did this to you!" and then throws him down to the ground, leaving Kelly stranded out in the middle of nowhere. Later taken to a hospital where he rests in a wheelchair, Kelly discovers a badly beaten Lila in a nearby room and goes in to see her heavily sedated in intensive care. After Kelly tearfully tells her he loves her, Lila squeezes Kelly's hand, then dies from her injuries, ending the video.


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