R. KELLY : Sultan of Raunch Slam-Dunks Up the Charts

Singer-rapper R. Kelly says he always gets a good laugh when he hears people describe his hit single “Sex Me” as steamy.

“People don’t realize this is the clean version--you should have heard it before the cuts,” he says, referring to the trims by nervous record-label executives.

“The way it was originally, they were afraid it wouldn’t get any airplay, so they cut it to the bone. The original version was written after I’d been cooped up in the studio so long that I wasn’t able to party like I usually do. I just let my feelings out writing that song.”

“Sex Me” is the first single from his Jive Records album, “12 Play,” which also includes such songs as “I Like the Crotch On You” and “Your Body’s Callin’.”

Even with the assorted edits, the album is far raunchier than his 1991 million-selling debut, “Born Into the ‘90s,” which established him as a force in the R&B;/hip-hop market.

“On my first album I was holding back,” says Kelly. “This second album is the album I wanted to make the first time. But I didn’t want to come on too strong too soon.”

These days the joke about Kelly is that the R. in his name (actually short for Robert) really stands for raunchy. But he insists he doesn’t have a one-track mind.

“The new album isn’t totally about sex,” says Kelly, who was signed by Jive two years ago after his manager discovered him at a 1990 audition. “I tried to get some variety on the album. I’ve also written and produced three songs for the Winans’ gospel group. Now would people as religious as they are work with a sex maniac?”

When Kelly, 24, was growing up on Chicago’s South Side, a music career never crossed his mind. Basketball was his first love. “Back then that’s all I cared about,” recalls Kelly, who was a starter for his high school team. “My goal was to be the next Michael Jordan.”

But a teacher changed all that. Spotting a glimmer of music potential, Lena McLin--whom he calls his second mother--talked him into singing a Stevie Wonder number in a talent show.

“I got a great response from the crowd and I felt this incredible rush--like nothing I felt from basketball,” explains Kelly, who still plays basketball just about every day. “I knew then what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.”