''The Best of Both Worlds'' is the first collaborative album by

Jay-Z Shawn Corey Carter (born December 4, 1969), known professionally as Jay-Z, is an American rapper, record producer, entrepreneur, and founder of Manhattan-based conglomerate talent and entertainment agency Roc Nation. He is regarded as one of ...

and

R. Kelly Robert Sylvester Kelly (born January 8, 1967) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and sex offender convicted of racketeering and multiple sex offenses. During his recording career, Kelly sold over 75 million records worldwid ...

. It was released on March 19, 2002 through Roc-A-Fella, The Island Def Jam Music Group,

Rockland Records Rockland Records was an American record label founded by R&B recording artist and record producer R. Kelly in 1998, having distribution from Interscope Records. The label was home to recording artists such as Kelly himself, Sparkle, Boo & Gotti ...

and

Jive Records Jive Records was an American independent record label founded by Clive Calder in 1981 as a subsidiary to the Zomba Group. In the US, the label had offices in New York City and Chicago. Jive was best known for its successes with hip hop, R&B, an ...

. The production on the album was primarily handled by R. Kelly and

Poke and Tone The Trackmasters are an American hip hop production duo composed of music producers Poke (Jean-Claude Olivier) and Tone (Samuel Barnes), best known for their commercial hit records in the mid-late 1990s and early 2000s. Frank "Nitty" Pimentel jo ...

, but also features production by

Megahertz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or Cycle per second, cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, me ...

and Charlemagne. The album also features guest appearances by

Beanie Siegel Dwight Equan Grant (born March 6, 1974), better known by his stage name Beanie Sigel, is an American rapper from South Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He first became known for his association with Jay-Z and Roc-A-Fella Records, releasing his debut ...

Lil' Kim Kimberly Denise Jones (born July 11, 1974), Those giving 1974 include: * * * * * better known by her stage name Lil' Kim, is an American rapper and reality television personality. Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York City, she lived much of he ...

and Devin the Dude. ''The Best of Both Worlds'' was supported by three

singles Singles are people not in a committed relationship. Singles may also refer to: Film and television * ''Singles'' (miniseries), a 1984 Australian television series * ''Singles'' (1992 film), written and directed by Cameron Crowe * ''Singles'' ...

: "

Honey Honey is a sweet and viscous substance made by several bees, the best-known of which are honey bees. Honey is made and stored to nourish bee colonies. Bees produce honey by gathering and then refining the sugary secretions of plants (primar ...

", "Get This Money" and "Take You Home with Me a.k.a. Body". The album received generally mixed reviews from music critics but despite the poor reviews was a commercial success. The album debuted at number two on the US ''Billboard'' 200 chart, selling 223,000 copies in its first week.

Singles

The album spawned three

from its songs. The first single, "

" was released on January 16, 2002 as the lead single for the album. It was produced by R. Kelly and

. The song contains a sample of " Love You Inside Out" by the

Bee Gees The Bee Gees were a musical group formed in 1958 by brothers Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb. The trio were especially successful in popular music in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and later as prominent performers in the disco music era in ...

. The single failed to chart on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 but managed to peak at number 35 on the UK Singles Chart. The second single, "Get this Money" was released in March 2002. The third single, "Take You Home with Me a.k.a. Body" was released on May 21, 2002. Both of the latter also failed to chart.

Critical reception

The album received generally mixed reviews from music critics. Some critics praised the album while others gave it poor reviews. Jason Birchmeier of AllMusic stated that "while the idea of a collaborative album was a reasonable one, the album falls terribly short of both artists' high standards". He also called the album uninspired and claims it "rates among the poorest efforts -- arguably the poorest -- in either Kelly's or Jay-Z's catalog to date." He gave the album a two star rating out of five. Steve Jones of USA Today gave the album a better review, calling the album "falls short of genius". He claims "The two charismatic hitmakers mesh well and represent for their respective genres." In addition, he also believes that "They don't, however, really push each other to the next level or break the ground you might expect from this kind of meeting of the minds." He gave the album three out of four stars. In retrospect, Jay-Z said: "I think the first ''The Best of Both Worlds'' is amazing".

Commercial performance

''The Best of Both Worlds'' debuted at number two on the US ''Billboard'' 200 chart, selling 223,000 copies in its first week. This became Jay-Z's fifth US top-ten album and R. Kelly's fifth on the chart. In its second week, the album dropped to number four on the chart, selling an additional 137,000 copies. In its third week, the album dropped to number six on the chart, selling 82,000 more copies. On May 14, 2002, the album was certified platinum by the

Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

(RIAA) for shipments of over one million copies. In 2002, ''The Best of Both Worlds'' was ranked as the 99th most popular album in the US. As of November 2004, the album has sold 875,000 copies in the United States.

Track listing

Notes * signifies a co-producer

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Best of Both Worlds, The 2002 albums R. Kelly albums Jay-Z albums Albums produced by R. Kelly Albums produced by Trackmasters Def Jam Recordings albums Jive Records albums Roc-A-Fella Records albums Collaborative albums