cletta1201's Full Review: Nellyville [PA] by Nelly
Go ahead, admit it – when no one’s looking and ”Hot In Herre” comes on the radio you nod your head don’t you? You resist, fight hard, even struggle a bit – but you just can’t fight the feeling. It’s okay, I consider myself a fan of Hip-Hop and I like it. “Hot In Herre” combines everything that people are really itching to hear these days (even if it is “commercial”) – it’s fun, it has a Neptune beat and it’s not really saying much. At some point even the “real” fans of Hip-Hop are just going to have to let loose for a moment (this means you Madtheory) and enjoy Nelly for what he’s worth.
- What The Hell Is A Nelly? -
nel·ly or nel·lie Pronunciation Key (n l )
n. Offensive Slang pl. nel·lies
Used as a disparaging term for an effeminate homosexual man.
Probably he might want to rethink that whole name thing at this point. Regardless of what the folks at dictionary.com define the word Nelly as being – the world has come to know him as a band-aid wearing rapper who represents his hometown of Saint Louis to the fullest. His brand of party rap is revered by the TRL crowd and eschewed by “true” Hip-Hop lovers. Still he has managed to put himself on the map by throwing rocks at the throne (Roc Tha Mic) and making girls get naked (Hot In Herre) and he’s showing no signs of slowing down.
- Track Listing -
1. Nellyville
2. Getting’ It Started (skit)
3. Hot In Herre
4. Dem Boyz
5. Oh Nelly
6. Pimp Juice
7. Air Force Ones
8. In The Store (skit)
9. On The Grind
10. Dilemma
11. Splurge
12. Work It
13. Roc The Mic (Remix w/ Freeway, Beanie Sigel, Nelly and Murphy Lee)
14. The Gank
15. 5000 (skit)
16. #1
17. CG2 (Country Grammar Part 2)
18. Say Now
19. XXXX It Then (skit)
- Won’t You Take Me To … Nellyville? -
Nellyville is the sophomore album from the Midwest rapper and his own personal Utopian society. I could use my own words to describe Nellyville – but the mayor/originator does such a good job: “Nobody livin savage, e'rybody got change/ Even the paperboy deliver out the back of a Range/ It's not a game, it's a beautiful thang/ Imagine blocks and blocks of no cocaine, blocks with no gunplay/ Ain't nobody shot, so ain't no news that day/ Ain't nobody snitchin, they refuse to say/ Every month - we take a vote on what the weather should be/ And if we vote it rains - know how wet we want it to be/ And if we vote it snow - know how deep we want it to get/ But the sun gon' shine 99 percent, in Nellyville” I personally think the society doesn’t sound half-bad, but the song is pretty much garbage.
In case you missed the memo, Nelly is pretty much the new Will Smith. He’s young, black, and everyone loves him. Just like Smith, Nelly is a bit of a dichotomy, trying to balance his desire for album sales and status while maintaining his street credibility, which is hard to do with an album like this. ”Dilemma” features Kelly Rowland also known as backup singer in Destiny’s Child. The song is already getting airplay and I’m impressed by Rowland’s vocals (since you never get to hear her voice on a Destiny’s Child album). It has a catchy hook (like all Nelly songs) and isn’t half bad.
Another duet happens to be with Mr. N*SYNC himself - Justin Timberlake on ”Work It Out”. As the days grow on, I’m convinced that Justin wants desperately to be Michael Jackson, unfortunately on this song he tries to hard and flops. I’m so fixated with how terrible Justin sounds, I started thinking Nelly was the bomb for a minute… and then I woke up.
Nike is probably peeing in their pants right now because ”Air Force Ones” is a tribute to one of their most popular sneakers often worn by Nelly and crew. Produced by The Trackboyz it sounds like a fake Cash Money song and it sucks. ”Splurge” is a decent track and reminds me a bit of Jay-Z’s “Big Pimpin’”. I wouldn’t be surprised if this was released as a single.
I didn’t review this album just to hate on it – there are some decent songs if you like party/pop rap. Nelly is however at his best on songs like ”Roc The Mic (remix)” where he takes on Hip-Hop icon Krs-One and on ”#1”, the song that was featured on the Training Day soundtrack. When he’s staking his claim as the number one emcee, you have to giggle because there’s no doubt that he isn’t but at the same time you have to give him credit for even thinking such a thing and even more credit for putting it in a song.
- The Bottom Line -
If you liked the last Nelly album, chances are you won’t be disappointed with this one either. He sticks to the same formula that catapulted him to success before and keeps it easy. He’s no Krs-One or Jay-Z for that matter but he’s doing his own thing, which I do respect.
*To maintain my credibility as a writer here I must say I did NOT buy this album, but instead mooched my little brother’s copy
Recommended:
Yes
Great Music to Play While: Getting ready to go out
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