Trackmasters tells the story on why Hov & Kellz Best Of Both Worlds was a failure

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On The Album

Poke: Everything that could have went wrong with that album did.

Tone: Listen, just so you know, everything went wrong in the 12th hour. We were done with the album, we were talking about shooting the video.

Poke: Listen, if he didnt catch a charge, they woulda done the tour and the video, and that record woulda sold 10 million records. Hands down.

Tone: That album came about because I lied. I told Jay that Rob wanted to make an album and I told Rob that Jay wanted to make an album. They were fans of each other. Working with both of them, I knew how they felt about each other. So I said it to each of them and then just played the dumb middle guy. Then they spoke on the phone and they wanted to do it. All I had to do at that point was get tracks.

They made the entire album without ever being in studio together. They were in studio one time together between both albums and that was for press. Other than that, it was me out in Chicago.

"Rob was going on a cruise to like Africa or some crazy shyt. He was going to be gone. I was like, You cant be gone. I gotta finish this record. We only had like three records done with both of their vocals. Rob sat in the studio the night before he left on his cruise and put lyrics and choruses on like nine records.

I took those songs, went back to New York, and went to Jays studio. Jay was like, Lets go. I played him the songs and one by one he did his rhymes for every one of those songs. That was it. He was like, This is easy because he only had to put one verse or sometimes two. But they never stepped in the studio together.

Later on, we were getting ready to shoot a video. I went to the studio with Jay and he told me, Yo, your boy...:scusthov: I was like, Who are you talking about? And he was like, Your boy...:scusthov:..its not gonna happen. I was like, Whats not gonna happen?

Then he starts going into the story [about the sex tape]. At that time, it didnt even hit the media yet. Jay got a heads-up call early. He said, There's a tape with your boy :scusthov:. I said, What are you talking about?

Basically, someone gave Jay a heads-up that this tape was out there and that someone was about to leak it. Jay turned to me and said, Yo, I cant be attached to that :scusthov:. He didnt know nothing about it, he didnt know the girl. But he just said, If that tape exists, I cant have that. :scusthov:

I couldnt believe he got the call beforehand. He got a call like, This is about to go down. Jay had someone in Chicago that was going to verify the tape for him because he didnt see it himself. He was just like, Go verify it for me. Like, is it real? And he got the call back and he was like, Told you...:scusthov: There's no music video for that or Unfinished Business but both sold a million.

The weird thing was that they were fans of each other. They admired each other from afar, but they came from two different worlds and they didnt understand each other. Jay is the true definition of a New York guy and R. Kelly is the true definition of a Chicago guy. [Kanye is from Chicago] but is Kanye truly a Chicago guy? I see him being more someone who is very New York-ish in the style of music he listens to and his swagger.

Jay and R. Kelly are two totally different people and they just couldnt coexist. In his defense, Jay was actually okay because New York guys can adapt even if youre a little weird. R.Kelly, he just couldnt adapt. It just didnt work. It was ugly.
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Jay-Z & R. Kelly The Best of Both Worlds (2002) — Trackmasters Tell All: The Stories Behind Their Classic Records (Part 2) | Complex
 
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About The Tour:
Tone: The relationship between Jay-Z and R. Kelly] fell apart on tour. But it fell apart before [the infamous mase incident at MSG], that's just when everyone got wind of it. It was doomed from opening night in Chicago.

"In fact, it was doomed before opening night when Jay would go to rehearsals and R. Kelly wouldn't be there. They didn't rehearse together at all for the tour. The very first time they stepped on stage side by side and looked at each other was opening night. It was the stupidest shyt ever.

Me and John Manilli were like, "This is gonna be a disaster." They had these two busses that came on stage, but they had never stepped foot on the bus. They didn't know how the trick was gonna work. It was like, "So what do I do? I step on the bus then what?

They didn't know how to get off the bus. It was just a clusterfukk. The whole first part of the tour was them rehearsing.

The first night of the tour, R. Kelly shows up one hour and a half late for opening night. Opening night! There's not enough time in the arena, the guys are like, "You're not gonna get the show off."

The people are going crazy and Jay is in his dressing room. He's getting dressed in his all white outfit. He calls me into his dressing room [while looking in his mirror and adjusting his hat] and he goes, "I don't know why I let you talk me into this shyt." I just left I walked out. He was so mad. :laff:

The defining moment of the tour was when Jay got the call that R. Kelly was there. R. Kelly is coming off his bus and he didn't even go to the dressing room and he's coming down the stairs that lead to the stage. Jay-Z is [on the other side] coming out of his dressing room that leads to the stage. So they were coming together at the same time.

This is when I was like this is over: R. Kelly and Jay both come down and R. Kelly [puts out his hand] to Jay to give him a pound and Jay just gives him this look :scusthov: [and walks past him]. And R. Kelly was like...he didn't say another word to him. That was it it was over.

The show was fukked up in Chicago because Jay ripped it. R. Kelly felt like the show was sabotaged, he felt like the lighting guy kept him in the dark and all the light was on Jay. It was this whole thing so Jay was like, "Okay, let's just change all the people. Who do you want to work with? R. Kelly changed the entire crew to his people.

Two nights after that, R. Kelly is complaining again. Jay is like, "What are you complaining about now? You hired him!" It was just like that type of thing, they didn't get along the entire tour. The only time R. Kelly was in good spirits was when they got to the Midwest and Jay-Z's shyt was just not hot over there and R. Kelly was.

There was a night when they were in Detroit and the sound was fukked up. R. Kelly jumps off the stage, runs to the sound booth, and punches the guy in the face. During the show! It was fukked up. There was nothing I could do but watch. :laff:

The entire [MSG incident] was premeditated by R. Kelly to sabotage the New York City show. The Chicago show was [was in R. Kelly's hometown] and it was fukked up for R. Kelly. So I think R. Kelly just stayed on the tour until it got to [Jay-Z's hometown] New York.

Nothing happened [at the MSG show]. Zero happened there. I did Jay's sound for the show, I did his music so I was the que guy. They come out, they do their thing, and Jay comes on and destroys NYC the way he's gonna destroy NYC.

We'd been doing this so long that there's a que. R. Kelly wasn't where he was supposed to be. I told everybody backstage, it's over, it' s over! I didn't even think he was coming on stage because he wasn't where he was supposed to be.

The stage was dark and the lights came on, that's when he came on stage and was like, "Somebody in the audience brandished a gun. I fear for my life. I can't continue this show. I'm sorry." And that was the end of it. But no one brandished a gun. Nothing went wrong.

He had plans on doing that all along. [I don't know it for a fact] but I know it in my heart. He was just going along with the tour to fukk it up in NYC. The snubbing and the fact that the show in Chicago was just fukked up, it wasn't a good show. It was R. Kelly being embarrassed in his hometown so I think that he planned it all along.
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The Best of Both Worlds Tour and The Infamous Madison Square Garden Incident — Trackmasters Tell All: The Stories Behind Their Classic Records (Part 2) | Complex
 
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