Nelly - Brass Knuckles Review
Posted by Patrick Robinson on 09.30.2008
Nelly comes with his first album in four years! After such a break, can he deliver a knockout punch like the title suggests?
With the release of Nellyville in 2002, and Sweat and Suit in 2004, it was safe to say that Nelly had found his niche in the hip-hop world. After the success of tracks such as “Dilemma” and “Hot In Herre”, it quickly became obvious that Nelly’s strengths were club-orientated songs or hip-hop with an R&B flavor to it. Sweat and Suit further cemented that fact, but also showed that he could make essentially, two different albums of different sounds. It also featured “N Dey Say” which was Nelly’s first attempt at bringing a more socially conscious track to the mainstream, and it worked quite well.
Four years on though, and apart from “Grillz”, there was little input into the hip-hop world from Nelly. 2006 featured no new music from him except for two small guest appearances, likewise, 2007 only featured one new track in “Wadsyaname”, the expected first single for Brass Knuckles which was subsequently dropped as the album was pushed back again and again. Has the four-year break given Nelly the time to come up with some quality material?
Tracks
1. U Ain’t Him Ft. Rick Ross
2. Hold Up Ft. T.I. & LL Cool J
3. L.A. Ft. Snoop Dogg & Nate Dogg
4. Long Night Ft. Usher
5. Lie Ft. St. Lunatics
6. Party People Ft. Fergie
7. Self-Esteem Ft. Chuck D
8. Body On Me Ft. Akon & Ashanti
9. Stepped On My J’z Ft. Jermaine Dupri & Ciara
10. Let It Go (Lil Mama) Ft. Pharrell
11. One And Only
12. Chill Ft. St. Lunatics
13. Who F**** With Me Ft. Avery Storm
14. Ucud Gedit Ft. Gucci Mane & R. Kelly
Just looking at the track listing can instill mixed feelings. 14 tracks, of which only one (ironically titled) is a designated solo track. If you’re familiar with the majority of Nelly’s work, you know that his albums mostly comprise of radio or club-friendly beats, particularly suitable for the car as well, but generally paired with average lyrics. Brass Knuckles is not much different and you can take that whatever way you like.
“U Ain’t Him” and “Hold Up” kick off the album with high-energy, aggressive production with decent guest appearance from T.I. and ‘just there’ ones from Rick Ross and LL Cool J. “L.A.” has a very Dr. Dre vibe to it which gives it a nice West Coast feel and the presence of Snoop and Nate certainly help things there. As an ode to the West Coast, you could certainly do better, but I’m just happy that someone out there remembers who Nate Dogg is to be honest.
As I mentioned earlier, Nelly has found a niche in the hip-hop world with R&B edged tracks and tracks like “Long Night”, “Lie” and “One And Only” are such examples. “Long Night” I feel doesn’t fully utilize Usher to his best abilities and “Lie” features an awesome beat by Polow Da Don which is ultimately brought down by a poor hook and subject matter. “One And Only” though is one of the better tracks on the album featuring production again by Polow Da Don (who contributes four beats to the album) with Nelly singing rather than rapping giving it a sincere feeling.
In terms of the collaborations, “Body On Me” uses both Akon and Ashanti well, and the beat helps carry the song along as well. “Who F**** With Me” is another collaboration between Nelly and Avery Storm which works despite the beat not really fitting the subject matter, plus more input from Avery Storm wouldn’t have been a bad thing either.
Nelly mainly falters when he doesn’t have a topic that exactly inspires motivation and the result is average to terrible lyrics. “Stepped On My J’z” is one of the worst examples and the presence of Jermaine Dupri certainly doesn’t help, as the track is about someone who’s stepped on Nelly’s Jordan shoes. “Let It Go (Lil Mama)” didn’t have a chance from the start. Pharrell drops by with an extremely Neptunes sounding beat (and a bad one at that) which, coupled with an awful hook and subject matter (the typical commercial fanfare) makes it the worst song on the album.
The best track on the album is “Self-Esteem” though as the track delivers a positive message of looking to the future as well as dealing with problems in life. The beat is a nice change from the majority of the album as well and combined with Chuck D’s short but on-point verse makes it one of the rare times Nelly steps out of his comfort zone, and the result is an impressive song. I will say that Chuck D could have done with a longer verse though.
The 411: Brass Knuckles is an album that is perfect for throwing on at a party or whilst driving around on a lazy afternoon. While it won’t blow you away with outstanding lyrics or production, it’s a solid mainstream album that should satisfy Nelly fans until his next offering comes along.
