Search - Nelly :: Brass Knuckles

I Used To Like Nelly

Josephll | CET | 09/17/2008

(1 out of 5 stars)

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Nelly and producer Jason Epperson made miracles in 2000 when they with a very restrained budget managed to make "Country Grammar" one of the most sold albums of the year with hits like the title track, peaking at #7 "Ride With Me" #3 and "E.I" #15. Nelly combines alot of Dirty South elements with swagger, by singing the infectious hooks and rapping with a very unique flow that perfectly matched the sound, thus being a pioneer for populizing Southern Hip Hop aswell as making it commercial enough for the charts, something that was rare for Southern Hip Hop at this point, aswell as Rap songs becoming top #10 hits hits in general. Although "Country Grammar" wasn't an exellent album by any means it ultimately sold 15 million copies. Nelly's success was a fact. Nelly's next album "Nellyville" almost sold as much and while it continued where his first album left off, it also expanded his boundary by a couple of massive hits, in particular The Neptunes produced "Hot in Herre" that spent 7 weeks at #1 on the Billboard charts only to be suceeded by of his own Hip Hop ballad "Dilemma" with Kelly Rowland, a cleaver remake of Patti Labelle's 1983 hit "Love, Need and Want You". It would spend another 7 weeks as #1 aswell as the #3 hit "Air Force Ones" about Nike Shoes. In 2004 Nelly decided to release two albums simultaneously, the club friendly "Sweat" and the more laid back "Suit". A few hits come up, like #4 "My Place" with Jaheim, #3 "Over and Over" with Tim McGraw and then the #1 hit "Grillz With Paul Wall, populizing tooth jewelry for the first time in a big hit, he had also previosuly had a big hit with "Shake Ya Tailfeather" peaking at #1 with Diddy and Murphy Lee for the Soundtrack of Bad Boys 2. At this time Nelly became the wealthies rapper in Hip Hop and by all those big time collaborations he had on Sweet/Suit it was apparent that he had changed from the charming southerner who sang his own hooks and still made it so well to a wealthy young man who was more interersted in having hits then earning them.



After a few years Nelly is back with a new album called "Brass Knuckles" his first in 4 years, with a title like that can we expect a tougher Nelly now?. But alot of things have changed. Hip Hop is diffrent with all those futuristic beats that is setting the trends, Jay-Z has surpassed Nelly as the richest man in Hip Hop and plenty of other southern rappers like T.I, Ludacris and Lil Wayne are up for the competition. So what is there to expect from this new album? Nelly promised more hot collaborations here, especially from Bruce Springsteen and Mariah Carey but after a closer look at the album none of them are being found, but another 19 member guest list for it's 14 tracks though. The first three singles all bombed on the charts and they're infact all terrible. Polow Da Don's attempt at making a party song with Fergie aptly titled "Party People" was so bad that I was embarrased caught listening to it. Akon's "Body On Me" sounds like the anthem to an X-rated flick, not a duet between him and girlfriend Ashanti, although the trademark hook from Akon was quite meliodic and then "Stepped On My J's" is just repetitive wih lazy production, Dupri do his best to ruin the song with his guest appearence as always. The ridicolous "Wadsyaname" that stole Kci And Jojo's "All My Life" didn't even make the final cut, which is a positive thing afterall. But if these songs are the singles choises what can we expect from the rest of the album?.





The repetitive Neptunes produced "Let It Go Mama" could've been a highlight but the forced hook ain't no southern sing-a-long thing and it ends up being annoying. The Polow Da Don produced "Lie" a song about relationship problems got the beat and the hook but the lyrics are so bad it's funny. Two more Polow songs are "One And Only" a decent love song and only song without guests and "Uced Gedit" which is the opposite with naughty lyrics from R. Kelly and Gucci Mane. On the bragadocio anthem "Hold Up" with LL Cool J and T.I, Nelly claims that his only goal is to be "young, black and rich" and that others want to be him, more like "Old, Tired and Unmotivated", the same goes for "U Ain't Him" with ex Prison guard err I mean Hustler Rick Ross. A tribute to the west coast called "LA" with Snoop Dogg (who else!) with a typical west coast beat is just weird. Isn't Nelly from St.Louis, why is he trying to please everyone?. "Long Night" with Usher is a seductive song for the ladies while "Chill" is a song about not messing with him, sounds like something that 50 Cent would come up with lyrically and by beats. "Who F Wit Me" got interesting spanish guitar riffs but the lyrics are more bragadocio. The absolute standout is "Self Esteem" With Chuck D and it's about archiving your goals against all odds. It's deep and personal, why not more like this?



Overall, 1-2 songs that are good doesn't save this album form being a fiasco. Nelly has completely abandoned the cathcy sing a long songs that makes him a star back in the early decade and he's trying way hard to apply to current trends and to please diffrent groups. There's also a little too much bragadocio here, something he should save for 50 Cent or Young Jeezy. But the biggest and most aparent problem is that the songs are simply not memorable enough. That's why Nelly brought in so many guests to fill the gap. And it seems like Nelly is hardly trying either. Maybe he's content with his current life and just see rapping as a hobby. You mustn't buy this. 1'5 stars.



"

A Miss on Nelly's Part

Musac Critic | 09/27/2008

(2 out of 5 stars)

"After the great SUIT, Nelly was truly on top of his game. As poppish as that album was, it was strong. Who would've thought that Nelly would ever fall out of the limelight or that his pop-rap excursions would fall flat. Both of those terrible things happen on BRASS KNUCKLES. After a 4 year hiatus, you would expect that Nelly would be ready to comeback with a star-studded 4-star affair, much like SUIT was 4 years ago (Sweatsuit was issued in 2005 combining SUIT/SWEAT). BRASS KNUCKLES, much like Jay-Z's KINGDOM COME comeback falls short. The difference between those two is that KINGDOM COME was at least enjoyable. BRASS KNUCKLES just plain feels second-rate. Even the standout tracks aren't nearly as potent as Nelly's past triumphs - "Body On Me" featuring Akon and Ashanti feels stale, even though it is on of BRASS KNUCKLES standout's. "Party People" is fun enough, but its overall stupidity catches up quickly. I mean, Fergie rapping was so 2006. Evidently, Nelly rapping was so 2004, since he sounds so uninspired on BRASS KNUCKLES.



The album opens mediocrely with "U Ain't Him" featuring the ubiquitous Rick Ross. It's nothing to write home about for sure. The T.I./LL Cool J featuring "Hold Up" is at least fun, and the beat is sick, but still, it doesn't truly captivate the listener. "La" features an uninspiring Snoop Dogg, which does nothing for the momentum of the album. Usher shines on "Long Night", unfortunately, the track is forgettable. "Lie" featuring the St. Lunatics is average as well and ultimately forgettable. "Party People" featuring Fergie has only so much sustaining power before a couple of listens makes it sound as uninspired as everything else. "Self-Esteem" featuring Chuck D is a clear-cut miss and perhaps one of the corniest Nelly tracks - EVER. "Body On Me", a rather underrated single restores some momentum, and a couple of great proceeding tracks via "Stepped on My J'z" (featuring JD & Ciara) and "Let It Go Lil' Mama" (featuring Pharrell) finally bring some muscularity to a rather tepid album. From there, BRASS KNUCKLES falls on its arse with a couple of forgettable uninspired numbers ("One and Only", "Chill", "Who F***s Wit Me", and "Ucud Gedit").



It's unfortunate for Nelly BRASS KNUCKLES turned out so tepid. I don't recommend this album, particularly with many better hip-hop albums (Lil Wayne, Young Jeezy, The Game...) 2 stars is generous."

Garbage on its lowesr level

M. Bazemore | Greenville, NC | 09/21/2008

(1 out of 5 stars)

"Straight up trash, Nelly has gone to an all time low with this one, OH MY GOD, Are u kidding me??!? How the hell did thid even pass through the label. A huge dissappointment. Dont waste your money, if u got to have this, just go to Limewire and bootlegg it."