Незаконченное Дело: Альбом Jay-Z и R. Kelly

Album by R. Kelly and Jay Z

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. 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. 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. In January 2002, the two announced Best of Both Worlds in a New York City news conference. When the album was leaked on February 22, the release date was moved up seven days to combat piracy. 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. This would be illegal under Illinois law, which states that adults cannot have sexual intercourse with a minor. R. Kelly denied the claims. 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. 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. 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. He was later acquitted of all charges in 2008. 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.

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. blockquote|"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." The tour was originally planned for 2002, but was scrapped after the R. Kelly accusations surfaced. It was originally announced on August 19, 2004, with initial tour dates coming on August 27. The remaining shows were announced on October 6. 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?". 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.

The concerts began with a video depicting a news report high speed police chase of two buses heading to the arena. At the climax, the arena is darkened and the two vehicles crash and break a faux wall on the stage. From there, R. Kelly and Jay Z exit their respective vehicles clad in white suits and perform "The Best of Both Worlds", "Shake Ya Body", "Take You Home With Me A. K. A. Body", and "Somebody's Girl" from the Best of Both Worlds album. R. Kelly then goes backstage while Jay Z and his entourage perform their set. From there, the two transition with 10 to 20 minute sets consisting of their songs. After about five, they then conclude with the songs "Fiesta Remix", "Big Chips" and "Hell Yeah".

Date City Country Venue September 29, 2004 RosemontUnited States Allstate Arena September 30, 2004 October 1, 2004 Cincinnati U. S. Bank Arena October 2, 2004 Columbus Value City Arena October 3, 2004 Cleveland CSU Convocation Center October 5, 2004 Buffalo HSBC Arena October 7, 2004 Washington, D. C. MCI Center October 8, 2004 Baltimore 1st Mariner Arena October 9, 2004 Greensboro Greensboro Coliseum October 10, 2004 Nashville Gaylord Entertainment Center October 13, 2004 Dallas American Airlines Center October 14, 2004 New Orleans New Orleans Arena October 15, 2004 Houston Toyota Center October 16, 2004 Oklahoma City Ford Center October 17, 2004 Memphis FedExForum October 19, 2004 Minneapolis Target Center October 21, 2004 North Little Rock Alltel Arena October 22, 2004 Birmingham Birmingham Jefferson Arena October 23, 2004 St. Louis Savvis Center October 24, 2004 Milwaukee Bradley Center October 26, 2004 Hartford Hartford Civic Center October 28, 2004 Uniondale Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum October 29, 2004 New York City Madison Square Garden

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. 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."