R. Kelly and Jay-Z's new album is a compilation of unfinished business.
Their second collaborative effort, Unfinished Business, is tired.
Kelly and Jay-Z - Robert Kelly and Sean Carter - first teamed up on 2000's "Guilty Until Proven Innocent" from Carter's The Dynasty album. The two appeared later that year on Kelly's "Fiesta Remix" from his TP-2.Com album.
These songs illustrated the creativity the artists shared in the studio. From this success, the two teamed up to record an entire record.
The Best of Both Worlds, released in March 2002, was heavily hyped and even more heavily bootlegged before its release date.
It entered the charts at No. 2 but sold disappointingly and received unfavorable reviews. Perhaps Kelly's sex scandal, made public the month before, contributed to the poor sales, but overall the quality of the CD was to blame.
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During Kelly's legal troubles, Carter kept his distance. The artists were supposed to do a tour, but it fell apart because of bickering between the two.
Unfinished Business was the last project before their falling out, and like their first, it fails to show the true talents of the artists. The album is basically a tour souvenir one can purchase at any local record store.
Considering The Best of Both Worlds album was a commercial and critical flop, listeners may wonder why Carter and Kelly would release a sequel.
The album is promoted in magazines and television stations as containing 11 previously unreleased songs, as opposed to completely new songs. This suggests that the songs may be unused tracks from The Best of Both Worlds, not to mention the two songs that are remixes from that album.
It even sounds similar to their initial second-rate attempt. Unfinished Business is hardly memorable, other than its 3-D cover.
In 2002, Kelly was feuding with R&B group Dru Hill's lead singer Sisqo, remembered from "Thong Song" fame, and many unfavorable references were made about him on The Best of Both Worlds. In Unfinished Business, Kelly makes jabs at Sisqo, yet on other albums, Kelly remains quiet on the subject.
Again, this is probably because many songs on Unfinished Business are several years old.
The only motivation Jive and Roc-a-Fella Records, the artists' labels, have in releasing this album was to capitalize on the tour when both artists were in good standing. Unfinished Business is the perfect title for this album - it is all the unfinished tracks left over from their first attempt.
Unfinished Business
R.Kelly & Jay-Z
Interscope Records
Grade:D
