Post by Emerald City on Nov 5, 2004 20:57:02 GMT -5
By David Jenison
For Jay-Z and R. Kelly, their Unfinished Business is playing out on the album charts...and, unfortunately in court.
The feuding superstars should be celebrating as their new joint, Best of Both Worlds: Unfinished Business, debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, selling 215,000 copies in its first week, according to Nielsen SoundScan data released Wednesday.
Instead, the worlds are colliding. The rapper and R&B singer are enmeshed in a bitter battle over the implosion of their Best of Both Worlds tour last weekend.
The two stars originally came together in 2002 with their original Best of Both Worlds album and a planned tour, but when Kelly got hit with kiddie porn charges, the disc sold poorly and the tour was scrapped. In the two years since, Kelly released two successful solo albums, 2003's The Chocolate Factory and 2004's Happy People/U Saved Me, which helped pave the way for the stars to try again.
Announcing new tour plans, the duo decided to assemble another album, Unfinished Business, which features 11 previously unreleased tracks. The album came out last Tuesday. Four days later, during a tour stop at Madison Square Garden, things went kablooey. Apparently a member of Jay-Z's entourage used pepper spray on Kelly after the singer left the stage mid-set, saying that audience members had guns. Kelly later admitted there were no guns.
The promoter subsequently booted Kelly from the rest of the tour, which led the singer to file a $90 million suit against Jay-Z, claiming the rapper orchestrated the whole thing.
On Wednesday, with their new album topping the charts, Jay-Z announced he wasn't going to scrap the tour, as many expected. Instead, he has agreed to finish the remaining 15 dates as a solo artist, with special appearances by pals like P. Diddy and Mary J. Blige. He is also changing the name: The Best of Both Worlds Tour is now Jay-Z and Friends. The newly rechristened tour kicks off this Friday in Miami and runs through Nov. 27 in Las Vegas.
Jay-Z, who is retiring from recording and will soon become president of Island Def Jam Records, is also releasing a swan-song film, Fade to Black, on Friday.
