Nellyville

On paper, the concept behind the album is engaging. Nellyville is an imaginary herb-and-ho Elysium where Cornell Hayes Jr., aka Nelly, goes to escape reality. Here there is all the Mary Jane you can toke, convertibles the size of hovercraft and hi-fi systems that can demolish city blocks.

So it’s a pity that, after this enticing invite, Nellyville largely fails to live up to its manifesto, or even hoist itself out of the mire of hip-hop soundalikes. There are diverting moments, and the boy can sing as well as he can rap, but nothing on the album escapes the formula trap which hobbles so many talented performers in this genre.

‘Hot In Here’, already released as a single, has a meaty beat and standard issue peacock-misogynist lyrics: “Why you at the bar if you ain’t poppin’ the bottles?/What good is all the fame if you ain’t fuckin’ the models?” The title track opens cheesily but soon turns into an anodyne groove with nice samples but few hooks.

‘Pimp Juice’ isn’t half bad and showcases Nelly’s surprisingly solid soul vocal talent. The unusual lyrical conceit offers some hope of outside-the-box hiphop thinking - “Pimp juice is anything that attracts the opposite sex/It could be money, fame or straight intellect” – and the backing is a successful fusion of ’70s wah guitar and a steamy rhythm track.

Nelly seems a little unsure of where on the nasty/nice spectrum to come to rest. There is sporadic cussing on the album, and copious references to narcotics of the recreational and professional varieties. But having Justin Timberlake (pussy par excellence, despite *N Sync’s recent bout of laughable posturing) as a guest vocalist does Nelly’s bad-ass campaign no favours.

The record is smartly bookended with fictional interchanges between a stroppy girl and her hen-whipped man. She first sends him out to find the album (Nellyville, that is – post-modern or what?) only to berate him when he finally returns with the clean, cuss-free version. She storms out, yelling abuse behind her.

I wish I could be as excited as her about it.