Nelly

Suit

I'm Still Confused As To Why Nelly Is So Popular

Review Score:

(4/10)
I was never really a fan of Nelly. I enjoyed his song, "Dilemma" with Kelly Rowland but it wasn't really Nelly I was listening to in that song. "Hot In Herre" seemed to be an attempt at the "Thong Song" of 2002. It was tasteless and irritating and yet it was everywhere. (At least Sisqo's "Thong Song" was catchy). After that, none of Nelly's singles really appealed to me. "Air Force Ones" was a weak endorsement attempt and, well, his other songs just weren't memorable. Moving forward to 2004, Nelly for some odd reason decided to separate his new album into two, "Sweat" and "Suit". "Suit" is supposed to be the classier of the two whereas "Sweat" is supposed to be more club-oriented. I never considered Nelly a phenomenal rapper. In fact, I think his music is more pop than rap. (Aren't rappers supposed to talk about real things and not just girls, getting shot and drugs?) Nonetheless, "Suit" actually lives up to its reputation as a semi-classy rap album.

"Play It Off" with Pharrell Williams (half the production team, The Neptunes, and one third of N.E.R.D.) gets the album off to a good start. Lyrically, it is classier than one would expect from a rapper though if this album is supposed to be R&B (I'm not too sure which style Nelly was going for) than it could really use work. The song seems to be about Nelly cheating on his girlfriend ("Bye, bye, you gotta go now My girl, just, pulled up outside"). Pharrell's vocals are a nice touch and while I do not agree with the message of the song, I have to admit that it does sound good. "Pretty Toes" featuring T.I. and Jazzy Pha (I do not know who these are as I am not too familiar with rappers) follows and is much more upbeat than the song before it. It is a mediocre mid-tempo song and is pretty much typical R&B/Rap. The guest rappers neither hurt nor help the song.

"My Place", the first single off this album, follows. It features Jaheim who I have often heard is considered the next Teddy Pendergrass. In this song, Nelly tells his girlfriend that he used to be happy that she was cheating on her man with him but now he doesn't want her to be with anyone else but him. I agree with reviewers who said this sounds like "Dilemma" but at the same time, it's probably the best song on the album. Jaheim actually sounds quite good with Nelly even though he only sings the chorus. "Paradise" is one of the few songs where Nelly is on his own which actually makes me understand why he has so many guest rappers on his album. The chorus sounds great but it is repeated at least three times too many throughout the whole song. Nelly's voice actually sounds different in the songs and I almost did not believe it was him rapping at all. "She Don't Know My Name", featuring Ron Isley and Snoop Dogg is up next. Of all the songs thus far, I would have to say that this is the weakest. Snoop Dogg's rap is surprisingly feeble and Nelly seems to be throwing together any words the rhyme in his verses.

"N Dey Say" (which translates to "And They Say" in case you can't tell), follows and once again proves why Nelly needs guest artists. Nelly for once tries to have some meaning in his song and it works some of the time. Overall though, the song is bland and forgettable. It seems as though whenever Nelly does not have a guest artist on his song, he becomes repetitive and mostly unremarkable. "Woodgrain And Leather Wit A Hole" is the "Air Force Ones" of the album. Nelly discusses the features of a car and once again proves why he needs guest rappers. The spoken part at the beginning is incredibly boring. "In My Life" features Mase and Avery Storm comes next and is a vain attempt to be sweet which would probably be more convincing if it didn't come after a song about a car. Not even guest stars are enough to save this song.

"Over and Over" lives up to its name. The chorus is repeated far more times than necessary in an attempt to make the song stick in the listener's head. This song also features Tim McGraw, an odd move since how many rap fans would want to listen to a country singer? Nonetheless, that remains the only memorable thing about the song as the lyrics are bland and Nelly's delivery is weak (he sings instead of rapping...maybe he should have rapped). "Nobody Knows" with Anthony Hamilton follows and describes how hard Nelly's been working to get where he is. Frankly, I'm sick of artists doing this kind of song because it is just unconvincing. The only one that managed to pull it off was Lil Mo with her song "Letter To A Number One Fan". Finally, there is "Die For You", which starts off with an irritating intro. The song has a much better message than most others on the album but still is not memorable enough to gain any attention.

Overall Mark: 2/5

Overall, Nelly still hasn't convinced me that he is a skilled rapper or even a decent artist. Most of his songs sound identical and Nelly does not seem to be able to hold his own when it comes time to do a song without guest artists. Normally I would say there were too many guest artists but in this case it does not really matter as the material is too weak to even be saved by talents like Jaheim. Other than "My Place" and "Play It Off", very few songs were memorable or even likeable. Nelly attempts to be classy and ends up singing about his car. How did that even happen? This album just did not appeal to me at all and ended up extremely boring.

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