A war of the worlds for Jay-Z, R. Kelly

The Best of Both Worlds was the name of the tour and, on paper at least, the tandem of Jay-Z and R. Kelly did seem world-class: The urban dream team brought together the opulence-loving kingpin of New York rap and the Chicago R&B; superstar who for a decade has churned out hit songs of both inspiration and seduction.

But it turns out these two worlds make a mess when they collide.

The partnership officially left concert venues and entered the legal arena late Monday when Kelly filed a $75-million breach-of-contract lawsuit in New York that bitterly details the abrupt dismantling of one of the season’s top tours. Edward Hayes, attorney for Kelly, spoke glumly of the split. “The perfect marriage of hip-hop and R&B.; Instead, it’s going to be a terrible divorce.”

There are sure to be plenty of subplots to the recent implosion of the 40-city tour, among them the painful financial burns that come with slamming the brakes on a major concert run at a time when the music industry’s doldrums make concert tour paydays especially important.

Meanwhile, the rap and hip-hop worlds have been consumed by the back-and-forth between two stars who are no strangers to the public eye.

The tour tandem was officially canceled Tuesday, but its crash came at a sold-out Friday night performance at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Early in the evening, Kelly had cut short his set and told the crowd that he was being “menaced” by two armed fans he spied in the crowd. Later in the show, Kelly and some of his entourage reportedly were pepper-sprayed by a member of Jay-Z’s crew as they made their way back toward the stage. The Garden’s security said no armed fans were found, and Jay-Z mocked the whole matter as fiction.

The pepper-spray allegation was the dramatic end to a simmering dispute between the two stars that began almost as soon as the tour buses rolled to the first show Sept. 29. Jay-Z said in a radio interview that Kelly was erratic and undermining the tour by showing up late and canceling three of his performances on short notice. Kelly said in his lawsuit that Jay-Z was angry that he was making less money on the venture and had even stooped to sabotaging the lighting during Kelly’s set.

A Manhattan courthouse may be the place where the stories are sorted out, but one thing is already clear: On this tour, Kelly had more to lose.

Jay-Z is at the top of his game commercially and flush with success on varied fronts: his music mogul career looks to be expanding, he has a new film -- “Fade to Black,” out Friday -- and has gleaned plenty of celebrity cachet from his romance with Beyonce.

Kelly, meanwhile, is still embroiled in criminal proceedings that make star squabbles seem trivial. A hearing is pending this week in Chicago for the felony child-porn case that emerged last year after the black market got hold of home videos that allegedly show the singer engaged in sex acts with teen girls.

Jay-Z and Kelly have had a snake-bit partnership. Their lone previous collaboration was the disc that shares the tour’s name, “Best of Both Worlds,” released last year. It arrived amid Kelly’s widening child-porn scandal, and Jay-Z distanced himself. That album, expected to be a dynamic seller, fizzled. With that lone exception, though, both have strung together hit albums in recent years that could pay off big on a concert tour.

Kelly’s publicist, Allan Mayer, said Tuesday that Kelly wants to resume the tour on his own to help support the duet album he made with Jay-Z that is now in stores and has the apt title “Unfinished Business.”

The Best of Both Worlds tour was scheduled to arrive locally Nov. 23 with a show at the Arrowhead Pond and then a visit the next night at Staples Center.

Jay-Z finished out the recent swing through New York and New Jersey in a style that may have left some fans actually happy that Kelly was off the bill. To fill the void, the rapper called some potent cellphone numbers. P. Diddy, Mariah Carey, Busta Rhymes, Mary J. Blige, Pharrell Williams, Mase and others took the stage. The rest of the tour, however, appears to fall into the category of “refund at the point of purchase,” though Jay-Z may announce more fill-in shows.

The tour failure also has some repercussions for the concert business. It’s been a rough year and this dashed road venture follows the surprising failure of the Lollapalooza festival, which couldn’t lure enough fans to mount the tour. It also doesn’t help the rap genre with its ongoing effort to earn respect in the live-music industry, where the genre is still seen as more chaotic and less professional.

Jay-Z has been one of the most bankable stars in hip-hop touring and his reputation for organization is one of the reasons there is music industry chatter that he may soon trade his stage mark for a boardroom seat as the top executive at Def Jam Records. If the star was looking to the executive post as a relief from the crazy life of the music star, this tour may push him faster toward that corner office.

Times staff writer Greg Braxton also contributed to this story.