AMG Review of Unfinished Business

Andy Kellman
All Music Guide

Unfinished Business is the sequel to 2002's The Best of Both Worlds, R. Kelly and Jay-Z's first collaborative record. The press materials made a point to refer to these 11 songs as "previously unreleased," as opposed to "new," suggesting that they are leftovers from the same sessions that yielded The Best of Both Worlds. Further support for this speculation: the two records share much of the same personnel and recording locations, and the later release has even fewer bright spots than the initial one. Plus, this release coincided with a joint R. Kelly/Jay-Z tour that was initially supposed to take place two years prior. Once again, just hearing these two voices on the same record should be enough of an attraction for die-heard fans of either one, but the bright spots are harder to come by.