Album: Nelly

Sweat/Suit, UNIVERSAL

Andy Gill
Friday 24 September 2004 00:00 BST
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Two albums at once? Whoa, Nelly! But there's no need for fans to blindly purchase both, there being a vast gulf in quality between the club-oriented Sweat, and the more reflective, more adult Suit. The former is a routine collection of boasts about how many records Nelly has sold, how much money he has accumulated, how many cars are in his garage, and how many models he's rogered, the appeal of which soon wears thin. Suit is vastly superior, the Love Below to Sweat's Speakerboxxx - an apt comparison, given that Big Boi produces one track, and another relies heavily on an OutKast sample. Not only is "Pretty Toes" - the track in question - more engaging, in sheer dance-pop terms, than anything on Sweat, but Nelly also employs his rap skills with greater depth on tracks such as "Die For You" and "N Dey Say". In the former, he recalls his consternation at his daughter's premature birth, and how he felt that his lifestyle might have been at fault; the latter,

Two albums at once? Whoa, Nelly! But there's no need for fans to blindly purchase both, there being a vast gulf in quality between the club-oriented Sweat, and the more reflective, more adult Suit. The former is a routine collection of boasts about how many records Nelly has sold, how much money he has accumulated, how many cars are in his garage, and how many models he's rogered, the appeal of which soon wears thin. Suit is vastly superior, the Love Below to Sweat's Speakerboxxx - an apt comparison, given that Big Boi produces one track, and another relies heavily on an OutKast sample. Not only is "Pretty Toes" - the track in question - more engaging, in sheer dance-pop terms, than anything on Sweat, but Nelly also employs his rap skills with greater depth on tracks such as "Die For You" and "N Dey Say". In the former, he recalls his consternation at his daughter's premature birth, and how he felt that his lifestyle might have been at fault; the latter, built on the same Spandau Ballet sample once used by PM Dawn, offers support for single mothers, and brothers beaten down by circumstance. It contains the best couplet on both albums: "I used to think that life had a plan for me/ Until I realised life had to be planned by me."

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in