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Music Review:
Nellyville, Nelly
NELLYVILLE
1. Nellyville
2. Gettin' It Started
3. Hot In Herre
4. Dem Boyz
5. Oh Nelly
6. Pimp Juice
7. Air Force Ones
8. In The Store
9. On The Grind
10. Dilemma (feat. Kelly Rowland)
11. Splurge
12. Work It (feat. Justin Timberlake)
13. Roc The Mic (Remix) (feat. Freeway, Beanie Sigel, and Murphy Lee)
14. The Gank
15. 5000
16. #1
17. Cg2
18. Say Now
19. F**k It Then
QUICKIES
When Nellyville was released almost a month ago, it knocked my boyfriend's album, The Eminem Show out of its number one spot on the Billboard chart. Being Eminem's secret girlfriend, I was understandably very upset. Of course, at that point, almost everyone in the world had either downloaded or bought The Eminem Show, so it was time for some new blood. But is Nellyville deserving of the number one spot for two consecutive weeks?
"Nellyville is where I'm kicking it, having fun, or when I'm chillin' with my folks," Nelly said at a recent MTV interview. "My life has been tough already growing up and that's not really something I choose to dwell on. It wasn't the most exciting time for me so I don't chose to dwell on it, although I do touch on it sometimes." Unlike some people in the industry, Nelly has taken a more positive approach to his sophomore CD.
Born Cornell Hayes, Jr., Nelly grew up in St. Louis. His love for baseball almost led him to play professionally, but his love for music was just stronger. He became part of the St. Lunatics, and in 1996 they released Gimme What You Got. He eventually inked a deal with Universal Records, but as a solo act. In 2000, Country Grammar was born, selling over nine million copies. After a remix with *NSYNC, it was time for Nellyville.
Is Nelly becoming too commercial? Is he selling out, like many of his detractors have claimed? Surely a duet with *NSYNC couldn't have helped the street cred, but Nelly has never maintained that he was anything but himself. A master of the vague song title, Nelly knows how to pen an appealing song or two, and teaming up with the hot producer team of the moment, The Neptunes, spells surefire commercial success. At twenty-four, Nelly is a millionaire, and the only person he has to thank is himself. Whether that's selling out is open to interpretation. One interpretation, from the legendary KRS-One, is that he is undeniably selling out. This sparked a feud of sorts between the two rappers, which led KRS-One to urge hip-hop fans to boycott Nellyville. But oops, maybe he didn't make himself too clear, because Nellyville currently sits at the number three spot on the Billboard chart.
But Nelly takes the feud all in stride. After all, he's just having fun, and Nellyville can attest to that. After a few listens to the CD, this is what I learned about Nelly: 1. he's from St. Louis; 2. he loves St. Louis; 3. he loves his weed, but not as much as St. Louis. It really isn't a stretch to say that Nelly hasn't thrown anything in this CD that the public didn't already know. Air Force Ones is about running shoes, for crying out loud! Nellyville is basically a retread of Country Grammar. One of the best things about Nelly is that he has found a unique style. When you hear one of his songs, you know it's Nelly. But when it's the same song, over and over, just with different lyrics, it can get old pretty fast.
The CD starts off with Nellyville, which sounds a little like "Country Grammar." After a while there's The Neptunes' Hot in Herre, which I personally never liked. It's sure to become a club anthem, but I could never stand that girl in the video. Anyway, that's just me. Dem Boyz is a doppelganger of "Batter Up." Oh Nelly starts recycling lyrics from his "Ride Wit Me," complete with "Why don't you come ride with me…" (as you can remember, the older song had "If you wanna go and take a ride with me…"). Pimp Juice utilizes what little range the CD has with one part funk and one part rock beats. Work It teams Justin Timberlake with Nelly, and the song ain't working anything. Timberlake has such a small part in the song that any old singer could have had the same effect. Also, it sounds like a part was written specifically for Justin - the song just doesn't sound cohesive. Cg2, as I densely overlooked (or subconsciously blocked out), stands for "Country Grammar 2." You guessed it, it's "Country Grammar" revisited.
Nellyville isn't all bad. Dilemma, the single currently out right now, teams Nelly with Kelly Rowlands, one-third of Destiny's Child. It's a song about a woman who is in love with Nelly, but has her baby's father to deal with. A poster on an MTV hip-hop board totally trashed the song, calling it an "ultimate rap ballad"-wannabe. I disagree. It could well end up becoming the ultimate rap ballad. Who knew Nelly had such a soft spot? The song is set against light beats and has the perfect blend of earnestness and sadness (bonus that Kelly can sing - you usually can't tell because Beyoncé is always hogging the spotlight). Splurge is a "you think you really know me but you don't" type of song (and that's an actual line from the chorus). It's a given that anyone releasing a sophomore CD is going to include a song like that. Surprisingly, "Splurge" isn't half bad. It has a slow, heavy beat and Nelly alternates seamlessly between the singing and the rapping. The Gank was one of my favourites, besides "Dilemma." It's one of the few times where Nelly sings throughout the whole song, and you know how I have a penchant for rappers that try to sing. Fortunately, Nelly can sing, which makes the song that much better. A love song, "The Gank" recounts Nelly getting his heart broken by a woman who leaves him. The only questionable part in the song is where Nelly sings about her "leaving with [his] stash," which prompts an interlude wherein his friends comment on how that is so wrong. I guess that's just to show Nelly's fun, laid-back attitude. #1, a song that was implicitly written as a response to KRS-One (Roc the Mic is the explicit response), is one of those songs that make you want to get up and sass everyone around you. Strong beats and clever lyrics make "#1" a great song.
When an artist who's had success like Nelly's releases a sophomore CD, it's one of the hardest things to pull off. Everyone is watching to see if you're going to fall on your face or rise above your debut. Nelly has proven time and time again that he is talented and knows how to sell a song or two. But with Nellyville, he hasn't come far from where he first started. For Nelly, it's not a breakthrough by any means, and the best word I can come up with to describe the CD is "mediocre." Someone should really tell Nelly that recycling his own songs is not okay (and I'm looking at you too, Puff Daddy, P.Diddy, Sean Combs, whoever you are today). ¤ C.Ho.
NELLYVILLE:
(out of 5)
