Best of Both Worlds - Can it work again?

So I remember when the Best of Both World's cd dropped. Shit was hot fire nah mean. You had Kells and Hov doing an entire album and pulling it off with great results. It still sort of amazing how it went down. Trackmaster's pulled off some good production and Kelly did more than just sing hooks.



After the initial album, R. Kelly's legal troubles kept the duo from promoting, shooting any videos or a tour. Subsequently they went and remade the album, titling it "Unfinished Business". It wasn't as good as the first however, this time they did get to tour and make money off of the album. The relationship deteriorated due to ego and soon Kells was talking about doing another album only this time featuring Baby from Cash Money as the rapper. This never reached fruition and Kells legal troubles again put him out of commission until recently.

So since the initial success of the 2002 album, others have tried unsuccessfully to recreate the magical formula. None have had any commercial success and most have been announced but haven't come to fruition. what's up with that?

Bow Wow And Omarion - Hey Baby (Jump Off)
Uploaded by TBOVIDEOS. - See the latest featured music videos.

You see I actually liked the Bow wow and Omarion album. The beats were knocking and good for dancing, the lyrics were what they were and the concepts were what you would expect of two young guys who have had a lot of money thrown in their laps. Yet, the public didn't pick it up, maybe Bow wow doesn't have enough credibility to pull off the rap portion though he is comparable to more than half of the mainstream industry today.

We also had the rumored Wayne and T-pain album which I don't think can work. This is for a couple of reasons, first of which being it isn't special. They do enough songs on the regular basis that an album from the two as a duo would not be special. Second, as long as Wayne is using autotune he is taking away one of Pain's main weapons.

Fabolous-Make Me Better ft Ne-Yo
Uploaded by djreset. - Explore more music videos.

Then we had a rumor of a Ne-yo/ Fabolous album. This made sense, both are on Defjam and the success of "Make me Better" made this seem feasible. The biggest problem with this is the rapper once again. Fabolous doesn't make you want to rush out and pick up anything he puts out. He isn't the "best" of any world to be blunt. Which in the end is probably the biggest reason that a "Best of Both Worlds" type of collaboration can rarely if ever again work.

You see Jay-z and R. Kelly are both rappers basically. Everyone knows Kells basically raps. They both were dominant at the time of the album's creation and had been that way without a doubt for a few years at least. There could be no real argument in R and B, and within rap, it was either you were a Jay fan or a Nas fan that was it. Right now, there is Wayne who might be at the top, but then again, you also have T.I. who would be more likely to actually pull it off. Then there is Kanye but we all know he isn't going to share the spotlight. In R and B you know you have Ne-yo and maybe even the Dream or Jamie Foxx at this point, or it could be Trey Songz depending on what day it is and how you feel.

Unfortunately, there is no group of two that would actually bring excitement to the game and make you want to run out and make a purchase. The friendly competition that Jay and the R had is hard to duplicate and there seems to be a dearth of talent to pull it off. Who do you think could actually do a new "Best of Both Worlds"?