Nelly

Sweat

Doesn't Even Deserve One Star

Review Score:

(2/10)
Man oh man does this stink. I'm writing this review for both albums because both albums are garbage. I noticed a lot of people claiming the production on these two albums is tight. Are you sure we're listening to the same two albums here? I don't know, perhaps there are another two Nelly albums lurking out there with amazing production or something because the two albums I'm listening to are about as inspiring as elevator music. There is not one single song on either of the two albums that tickles my eardrum. Even "Play It Off", the track produced by the Neptunes, is ugly.

And the guest appearances? Wow. A duet with Christina Aguilera ("Tilt Ya Head Back") and Tim McGraw ("Over and Over")? Please. I mean I'm all for artists expanding their boundaries and yadda yadda yadda but do you really think hip hop heads want to listen to Tim McGraw? No. Do you think country heads want to listen to Nelly? No. This is crossover music at its worst.

I can understand the Christina collaboration because Nelly fits a lot more into the pop mold than he does hip hop, but as Chris Rock best puts it, you can drive a car with your feet but that doesn't make it a good idea.

One could argue that releasing two albums is a pretty good idea because it can potentially double your sales, but in order for that to happen you need two actually good albums. The same thing happened to Outkast. Had the Love Below and Speakerboxx combined its best tracks on each album to create one it would have been off the hook, but instead you have two albums marred by inconsistency. At least Andre and Big Boi put out some good songs; I cannot think of a single track on Sweat or Suit that deserves any attention. A dead giveaway that these two albums are terrible is the single they chose to lead it all off with, "My Place" (you know the video). Everyone (and I mean everyone) hated that duet he did with Kelly Rowland a couple of years ago - well, this is just the same song but with Jaheim singing the hook instead of Kelly. Come on Jaheim, you're the next Teddy Pendergrass - you can do better.

You will adore these two albums if your taste in music is determined almost exclusively by what the radio plays. I'm not trying to hate, just some people like to limit themselves like that, is all. Otherwise, don't even give this album a second look if you're looking for something fresh. This is redundant garbage and I assure you that if you dig a little deeper than the radio or BET you will find lesser known artists with infinitely better material.

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