Unfinished Business is the second and final collaboration album between American rapper Jay-Z and American singer R. Kelly. The album was released worldwide on October 26, 2004. It was distributed in the United States and Canada by Jive Records and Island Def Jam Music Group, by the Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG) and its subsidiary Jive Records, except in Canada and the United States of America where Island Def Jam Music Group and its labels Def Jam Recordings and Roc-A-Fella Records replaced BMG. The album was composed of unreleased tracks from the recording sessions of 2002's The Best of Both Worlds, although slight additions were made.^[1]

The album was promoted by the "Best of Both Worlds" concert tour with R. Kelly and Jay-Z performing songs from both their solo and joint albums. The "Best of Both Worlds" tour filled with tension and accusations that boiled over at an October 31 show where R. Kelly was accused of erratic behavior and was pepper sprayed by a Jay-Z associate. Jay-Z and the tour promoter then banned R. Kelly from the tour claiming "lack of professionalism". R. Kelly responded by suing his co-act and touring company for $75 million for breach of contract, among other things, on November 2.^[1][2]

Unfinished Business was supported by two singles: "Big Chips" and "Don't Let Me Die". They were both sent to radio stations, but only the former saw a physical release.^[1] Like its predecessor, the album was criticized for repetitive lyrics but was a commercial success. It debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 chart, selling 215,000 copies in its first week, and later was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in December 2004.^[3][4]

R. Kelly appeared on Jay-Z's "Guilty Until Proven Innocent". In 2001, Jay-Z was featured on R. Kelly's popular single "Fiesta Remix" that shot up to fifth on the Billboard Top 100. The positive reception to both songs opened dialog between the two for a possible joint album. In December 2001, R. Kelly confirmed the album's existence and name in an interview with MTV at that year's Billboard Music Awards.^[5] In January 2002, the two announced Best of Both Worlds in a New York City news conference.^[6][7] When the album was leaked on February 22,^[8] the release date was moved up seven days to combat piracy.^[9] Outside parties speculated that the album would be the biggest release of the year and easily sell multi-million. However, in February 2002, an unknown person sent a sex tape to the Chicago Sun-Times newspaper, claiming that it was R. Kelly and an underage female.^[10] This would be illegal under Illinois law, which states that adults cannot have sexual intercourse with a minor. R. Kelly denied the claims.^[11] In response to the public outrage, Def Jam cut all promotion plans of the album, including music videos and the planned tour. Jay-Z also refused to appear with R. Kelly in anything.^[12]

Best of Both Worlds was criticized by critics for uninspired and recycled song meanings. It debuted number–two on the Billboard 200 with 223,000 units scanned.^[13] Despite the lack of promotion, it was still considered a commercial failure; the total was less than half of the artists' last solo efforts. Jay-Z's The Blueprint and R. Kelly's TP-2.com sold 427,000 and 543,000 respectively in their debut week and debuted number–one. If any chances of doing a tour lingered, they were crushed in June when R. Kelly was arrested for 21 counts of child pornography after witnesses claimed the woman in the video was 14 years old.^[14] He was later acquitted of all charges in 2008.^[15]

In November 2003, R. Kelly appeared at Jay-Z's "farewell" concert that was featured in the 2004 documentary film Fade to Black. The response from the crowd led to two to reconsider the idea of touring again, noting how R. Kelly's studio album that year, Chocolate Factory was certified multi-platinum by the RIAA. After watching Kelly get back on top, keep his fanbase, and go platinum in only 3 weeks, Jay-Z and Def Jam jumped back on the bandwagon. On September 21, Unfinished Business was confirmed.^[1][16]

As the album is composed of unreleased tracks of R. Kelly and Jay-Z, the recording took place during the Best of Both Worlds recording sessions. The two never met in a studio, instead sending tracks to each other to finish. Jay-Z described the process in their Best of Both Worlds press conference.

"It was definitely a friendly competition. He'd send me something and I'd be like, 'Oh, he killed that. Now I've got to kill it, too.' And every time I sent him something, he'd be like, 'Maaaannnn. All you've got to do is rap. I've got to put it in perfect pitch and harmony and still be saying something. You're putting pressure on me."^[6]

R. Kelly in a 2001 MTV interview stated that they had recorded nine songs by December 10.^[5] Album producers Tone and Poke also made sure the songs moved along.

The Best of Both Worlds Tour was a United States-only, 40-city tour to promote Unfinished Business, headlined by Jay-Z and R. Kelly. Artists affiliated with Roc-A-Fella performed with Jay-Z during his solo sets. It was sponsored by Atlanta Worldwide Touring.^[17] The tour was originally planned for 2002, but was scrapped after the R. Kelly accusations surfaced. It was originally announced on August 19, 2004,^[18][19] with initial tour dates coming on August 27.^[20] The remaining shows were announced on October 6.^[21] The concert was expected to gross $30 million.

Although the concert was well received by critics, they noticed tension between R. Kelly and Jay-Z. The two only performed together on stage for the beginning and finale sets. Sean Daly of The Washington Post wrote on their interactions, "Did any of it look remotely genuine? Absolutely not. How about "As the Best of Both Worlds Turn?".^[22]

To help promote voting in the upcoming presidential election in the United States, Jay-Z used the tour dates in Ohio to register eligible voters using his organization Voice Your Choice and music executive Russell Simmons' Hip-Hop Summit Action Network.^[23]

More information Review scores, Source ...

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[39]
Pitchfork	(6.7/10)[40]
RapReviews.com	(7.0/10)[41]
Rolling Stone	[42]
USA Today	[43]

Close

The album received mixed reviews from critics whom criticized the album for having the same theme as their previous outing and accused both artists of a cheap cash–in to promote their tour. Jon Caramanica of the Rolling Stone criticized Jay-Z's raps as boring.^[44] Rapreviews.com's Steve Juon judged the album as a tolerable release, saying "this time R. Kelly's peanut butter R&B is actually de-emphasized a little in favor of Jay-Z's hip-hop chocolate. That's fine by me, because it tastes better that way. Not as good as an unrestrained and unfettered Jay-Z does by himself mind you, but it's an improvement."^[45]

Unfinished Business debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 chart, selling 215,000 copies in its first week.^[3] This became Jay-Z seventh US number one album and R. Kelly's fourth.^[3] In its second week, the album dropped to number ten on the chart, selling an additional 71,000 copies.^[46] On December 1, 2004, the album was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for shipments of over one million copies in the United States.^[4]

Notes

• ^{^[a]} signifies a co-producer

• Best of Both Worlds