"Passport" by R. Kelly

About

"Passport" by R. Kelly or Do You Have Your Passport? Did You Get Your Shots? is a song by controversial R&B artist R. Kelly sung during a live performance in Ethiopia in which he asks listeners if they have their passports and shots so they can go back to America with him. The performance went viral following the release of the documentary series Surviving R. Kelly in January 2019 for its lyrics, which were compared to Kelly's sex trafficking charges. The song became a running gag on the H3 Podcast in the following years. It then went viral on TikTok in February 2024 as the source of lip dubs.

Origin

On December 1st, 2018, the My Religion Is Rap Facebook^[1] page posted a video of R. Kelly singing a song in which he tells listeners that he just broke up with his girlfriend and asks listeners if they have their passports and shots so they can go back to America with him. The video gained over 400,000 views and 2,700 reactions in six years.

It was reuploaded by YouTuber^[2] US now on January 6th, 2019, with the title "R. Kelly 'recruiting' girls in Ethiopia," garnering over 342,000 views in five years (shown below). This upload followed the release of the documentary Surviving R. Kelly, which brought new allegations of trafficking to light that R. Kelly was later charged with.^[3][4]

Do you have your passport? Did you get your shots?
Girl, would you like to come back with Rob to America? America?
Do you have your passport? Did you get your shots?
Girl, would you like to come back with Rob to America? America? America, the beautiful?
To America, America, America, America

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H3 Podcast Presence

On January 7th, 2019, the video was shared to the /r/NotTimAndEric^[5] subreddit, garnering over 190 upvotes in five years. On February 10th, the H3 Podcast hosted its 103rd episode on YouTube^[6] with comedian Chris D'Elia in which they reacted to the video together, garnering over 880,000 views in five years (shown below, left).

The song became a running joke on the show over the following years with the host, Ethan Klein, often singing it and showing the video to guests, including Anthony Fantano. The podcast also sold a shirt with the lyrics of the song on it and had both quartet and choir versions of the song produced. In April 2023, the H3 Podcast Lore YouTube^[7] channel uploaded a video compiling all references to the song made in the podcast (shown below, right).

Extended Cut

On June 29th, 2022, X^[8] user @shannonsharpeee posted the video of R. Kelly singing the song, writing, "R Kelly was really in Ethiopia recruiting girls asking if they wanna come to America 😩," garnering over 24,000 likes in two years. On August 14th, YouTuber^[9] King of R&B posted an extended, seven-minute long version of the video in which R. Kelly talks with the audience before singing the song, giving more context to the clip, garnering over 30,000 views in two years (shown below).

TikTok Presence

On February 8th, 2024, TikToker^[10] @ethiopiann_ posted the clip of R. Kelly singing the song, garnering over 3.4 million views in two weeks. The original sound was used over 4,900 times in the same span of time, largely as a source for lip dub videos and skits. For example, on February 13th, TikToker^[11] @llibraprincesss posted a video that gained over 1.4 million views in a week (shown below, left). On February 19th, TikToker^[12] @uniq.h1no posted a video of the sound that gained over a million views in a day (shown below, right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References