Jay Z & R Kelly:
Unfinished Business

Release Date: 26 October 2004

Reviewed By: Usman Sajjad

1. The Return

2. Big Chips

3. We Got em Going - feat, Memphis Bleek

4. She's Coming Home With Me

5. Feelin' You In Stereo

6. Stop - feat, Foxy Brown

7. Mo' Money - feat, Twista

8. Pretty Girls

9. Break Up (That's All We Do)

10. Don't Let Me Die

11. The Return (Remix) - feat, Slick Rick, Doug E Fresh

Nelly - Sweat
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Some say skills and track quality on an album really sets the path for the direction the album takes, but times have changed. With tracks such as Lil’ Jon’s ‘Crunk’ and Nelly’s ‘Pimp Juice’ dominating the ever diversified scene, the success of an artists’ album is mostly aided by one simple word - hype. But when you have Jay-Z, undoubtedly a top contender in the rap game, and R. Kelly, easily the greatest to step within the R&B circle, coming together to make an album, ‘Best of Both Worlds’, the hype is likely to be a million times greater than a debut album from your everyday rapper.

However, with some things taking its course, such as Kelly’s legal trouble threatening the situation, and with rumours that Jay distanced himself from Kelly’s allegations, the plans for that album failed, with only one thing coming out of that collaboration - the summer hit ‘Fiesta remix’, which actually featured on Kel’s solo album. One year later, R. Kelly is still in the dim light of his allegations, whilst Jay has bowed out of the rap game after the success of his ‘Black Album’. What no one expected though, was a sequel to the March 2002 release, named ‘Best Of Both Worlds 2: Unfinished Business’, not to mention a huge US tour in support of this. But, before we start to blow up releases, will the album be more of a clash of sounds rather than a mesh of sounds?

On the album’s lead single ‘Big Chips’, the two heavyweights bounce back and forth via a cherished Trackmasters’ beat, flaunting the luxuries and style they possess. Another track receiving radio airplay, ‘Don’t Let Me Die’, easily the best track on the album, has Kelly again dominating the track, with Jigga showcasing the mature persona we saw best on the ‘Blueprint’ and ‘Black’ albums.

From here though, there is nothing particularly spectacular from artists who are easily giants of their respective genres. ‘She’s Coming Home With Me’ sees a pointless performance from both Kelly and Jay, while ‘We Got ’Em Going’ also sees arrogant, lazy rhymes and lyrics from both stars, including the guest appearance from Memphis Bleek.

However, a breath of fresh air is delivered by Twista on ‘Mo’ Money’, a rather grimy record, and on the mellow sounds of ‘Feelin’ You In Stereo’, Kelly easily gives the best performance of this album, leaving Jay to delicately touch up with his raps: ‘We made love in the studio when we got together over and over like a loop, oh/ Damn I’m missing you, it’s hard to listen to all these dudes kissing you.’ Worryingly, the sounds on the album don’t mix well, with confusing performances on records such as ‘Stop’.

It’s hard to step back and look at what I’ve written, and really come to terms with another disappointing album which was meant to be a sequel to the first LP. The mellow, smooth and sometimes flamboyant sounds of R. Kelly fail terribly the majority of the time to gel with the distinctive sounds of Jigga. It is obvious, for most of the album, both have not met in the studio to record the tracks together, instead the Trackmasters have sent tracks to Kelly in Chicago and Jay in New York to complete and mixing it down from there, leaving the whole point of ‘two sounds combining’ worthless.

It is also hard to come to terms with Jay-Z sounding acceptable over a different Trackmasters beat, rather than the usual Just Blaze, Kanye West and occasional Neptunes production we have heard Hov rhyme over in the past few years.

Unfortunately, it looks like de ja vous – ‘Unfinished Business’ will probably repeat the limited success of the ‘Best of Both Worlds’ album, and both Jay-Z and R. Kelly fans can wave goodbye to any possibility of another collaboration after recent tour fallouts.

Rating: 2 out of 5

Top 5 Tracks

5) Feelin You In Stereo
10) Don’t Let Me Die
7) Mo’ Money

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