R. Kelly and Jay-Z. Whichever way you cut it, it’s an odd pairing. Kelly with this “I Believe I Can Fly” tendency for chocolate box harmonies and lady lovin’ R&B slickness. Jay-Z with his no frills sense of adventure and sledgehammer rhymes. It’s hard to believe they have an awful lot to talk about. Of course, Jay-Z’s always had an eye for a hit savvy producer to further his world domination and Kelly is always looking for hip hop heavyweights to bolster his street cred. So it’s not surprising that they’ve helped out on each other's albums. But still, the thought of the two of them sharing a vocal booth is an unlikely one.
“Unfinished Business”, the second instalment in their collaboration series “The Best Of Both Worlds” once again confirms that it’s not the most convincing of marriages.
The relationship lives and dies by its balance of power. For the most part it’s heavily weighted in Kelly’s favour. With the production credits handed over to Kelly’s sometime cohorts the Trackmasters and Jay-Z seemingly happy to leave them to get on with it, the likes of “Feelin’ You In Stereo”, “We Got Em Goin’” and “She’s Comin’ Home With Me” bounce uneventfully along as Kelly runs through his favourite juice’n’gin, ladies’n’clubs fallbacks. Jay-Z phones in a verse here, an “ohhhh” there, but they’re barely collaborations.
The real frustration though, is that when Jay-Z does finally muster the energy and enthusiasm to turn up at the studio and make his presence felt, the pair prove that there really could be more to their pairing than just a lazy marketing exercise. Cutting their cloth in favour of Jay-Z’s goliath stride and bullish delivery, “Big Chips” and a genuinely impressive “The Return” whip up the crowd and come on like a genuine event.
Undoubtedly Kelly and Jigga can out perform most of their peers in their sleep. Unfortunately, their determination to prove the point, scuppers any chances of the clash of the titans they incessantly promise. Half-hearted and aimless, more often than not, “Unfinished Business” sounds exactly that. Unfinished.
