Nelly

Sweat

Good If You Like Songs That All Sound The Same

Review Score:

(4/10)
Being a fan of R&B, I listened to Nelly's album, "Suit" in hopes of finding some decent R&B songs. I wasn't expecting much though I was still sadly disappointed. The album was not nearly as classy as people made it out to be and Nelly is in no way a great rapper. Nonetheless, I figured I might as well give his other new album a fair shot. "Sweat" is supposed to be the more club-centred of the two so listeners should not go in looking for substance. This album features far less guest appearances than its counterpart though each album has its odd guest. (Christina Aguilera on this one, Tim McGraw on "Suit"). I'm sure just the name Christina Aguilera on this album will be enough to get people to buy it but they will be buying at their own risk.

"Heart of a Champion" has great background music though the rest of the song does not live up to that. Nelly's rap is quite average. However, the chorus does sound particularly great. The verses contain a lot of name-dropping and some shouting, which detracts from the overall quality. At least this song is a little more memorable than much of the material on "Suit". The extraordinarily irritating "Na-Na-Na-Na" is up next. The song is repetitive and grating even for a dance song although I guess if you were in a club it wouldn't matter as you can dance to it. However, wouldn't most of us be buying these CDs for listening to at our houses and therefore not be in a club? Maybe I'm reading too far into this. Also, the song is far too long considering that it isn't even that good. "Flap Your Wings" is up next and is no better. Although I didn't think this was possible, it is even more repetitive than the song before it.

As I was listening to the album, I was looking for a file on the computer and the song switched to "American Dream". It was three minutes into that song before I even noticed the song had changed at all. That says a lot about the album: a lot of the songs (and I'm only on the fifth one) blend together. However, it is not the good kind of blending that makes it a coherent album; it's the kind that makes every song undistinguishable. "River Don't Runn" (why does Nelly keep insisting on adding extra letters to his words?) is up next and sounds exactly like the two songs before it. Even though this features Murphy Lee of the St. Lunatics, nothing is done to make this song stand out. It merely sounds like good background music with Nelly droning on over it. "Tilt Ya Head Back" with Christina Aguilera is up next. It is far from Christina's best work but it is a welcome addition to this album. However, unlike say, Usher and Alicia Keys, Nelly and Christina have very little vocal chemistry. Christina gives her usual great performance but Nelly could have done better.

"Grand Hang Out" is a little better for the simple reason that it is slightly more memorable than most of the other songs. I'm pretty sure this song features someone, as the rap sounds as though it was done by multiple people, though no one else is credited. Also, there is a part done by a female rapper so it is odd that no one was credited. The song however is at least a minute too long. "Getcha Getcha" is a typical club song. All style and no substance. It is repetitive and the cheers in the background are grating. Even dance songs can have substance. Artists like Sharyn Maceren and even T.A.T.U. managed to have meaningful lyrics into their dance songs. So really, there is no excuse as to why this song couldn't have been better. "Another One" is a very odd song with references to everyone from the Fresh Prince of Bel Air to Moses. The lyrics are very hard to follow and the beat isn't even that good to make up for it.

"Spider Man" is a misleading title, as the song has nothing to do with the character, the movie or even spiders. The song seems unnaturally slowed down and Nelly does his usual mispronunciations. ("bewurr" instead of "beware"). Am I the only one that finds it annoying? The song is once again incoherent and Nelly mentions Moses once again as well as mentioning counting his money. "Playa" with Missy Elliot and Havoc is up next. Missy sings a little (a word or two) in the beginning and actually sounds great. Otherwise, the song lacks individuality. "Down in Da Water," sounds more like a continuation of the song than a song on its own. Lastly comes "Boy" featuring someone called Big Gipp and sounds the exact same to me as a majority of other songs on the album. As least the beat in this one is somewhat different.

Overall Mark: 2/5

Overall, Nelly's "Sweat" album is no better than "Suit". It only has two memorable songs and the rest all sound the same. Nelly has yet to prove himself as a distinguishable artist. Most people only remember him for "Dilemma" and "Hot In Herre" though that may not be a bad thing as "Dilemma" was the only good song that I've heard of his (other than "My Place"). Several songs either seem to have unaccredited guest rappers (on Amazon and the internet site I was listening to anyway, maybe their names are listed on the album itself) or if not, Nelly's voice changes quite often. Even for a club album, this could use some better lyrics or at least better beats. Also, club songs should be at least somewhat memorable so people dancing to them would recognize them. Also, as I mentioned earlier, don't most people buy albums for their homes? In that case, an album purely for the clubs is probably not such a good idea.

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