Here we go all over again...
St. Louis, Missouri’s gift to hip hop returns with another super-produced measure of predictably chauvinistic tunes about hitting on the ladies and generally obsessing over ‘booty’. Ok, so he’s plied his one trick pony for donkeys, but one glance at the Billboard charts and who could blame him? In short, the ‘noughties’ have been the decade of Nelly. He’s shifted over 30 million units, landing Grammys for, among others, the nauseatingly catchy ‘Hot in Herre’ and mega selling album Nellyville.
Haynes also has the entrepreneurial Midas touch, having launched his ladies clothing line ‘Apple Bottoms’ and dabbled in movies and even started his very own brand of energy drink name Pimp Juice. In short, Nelly Inc. is a well-oiled, money-making enterprise of which music is now only a component.
Undoubtedly, he’s still well capable of nailing that breed of formulaic, yet memorable, hip hop lite that has the kids hitting iTunes in their droves. The album’s debut single ‘Just A Dream’ is moderately uninspired drivel, yet has already passed the half million sales mark. As is the norm these days for hip hop/ R&B megastars, all the celebrity friends join in the party, adding extra promotional oomph to the already ‘sparkling’ package. Amongst the guests are former Destiny’s Child warbler Kelly Rowland, who features on dreary, lovelorn duet ‘Gone’, while Akon shows up on what amounts to a tedious, adolescent rhyme – ‘Move That Body’.
Once upon a time, Nelly’s music had a certain hunger, a need to succeed. His distinctive drawl reflected his southern upbringing and a desire to be accepted by the Hip-Hop aristocracy. Back in 2000, debut album Country Grammar was documenting an isolated scene and in this respect, deserves some credit. The intervening years and mass-market success has clearly diminished his want to experiment, even ever so slightly...
Nelly is basically a product of modern marketing: 5.0 is well presented yet uninspired fare that’s guaranteed to sell by the truckload. My advice? Save the shekels, you’ve heard it all before.
KEY TRACK: ‘JUST A DREAM’