New York — Rap mogul Jay-Z and R&B titan R. Kelly unveiled their unusual album-length collaboration Thursday with all the pageantry befitting such a multiplatinum musical merger.
Beneath the crystal chandeliers in the swanky Hilton Room of the Waldorf-Astoria in Manhattan, flanked by A-list power-brokers like Johnnie Cochran, Sean Combs and Russell Simmons, Jay-Z and Kelly rolled out the blueprint for "The Best of Both Worlds," the duo's album due in stores March 26, featuring an already hitbound single, "Honey."
"Get ready," said Kelly, with a laugh and a nudge to Jay-Z, who sat next to him. "It'll be 'Best of Both Worlds' the tour, the T-shirt, drawers, condoms."
At a time when the music industry is desperately searching for surefire hits, the union of Jay-Z (with six platinum and two gold albums) and Kelly (with five platinum albums), who have combined sales totalling 37 million albums, is the closest anyone is going to get.
Their record companies are so sure of the success that Jay-Z's Island Def Jam Records and R. Kelly's Jive Records took the unusual step of agreeing to work together flipping a coin to determine which company would promote "The Best of Both Worlds" in America and Canada and who would get it in the rest of the world. (Island Def Jam got domestic rights, while Jive got international.)
Both Jay-Z and Kelly hope this spirit of cooperation between rap and R&B will serve as an example to others in the competitive fields. "I hope our collaboration brings more unity for black people as a culture," Jay-Z said. "It'll show that we can join forces and be much more profitable."
The duo already is planning a "Best of Both Worlds" tour, which is expected to debut April 9 at the Lifebeat/UrbanAid benefit.
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