Brass Knuckles (Parental Advisory) [PA] - Nelly

"Brass Knuckles" is the fifth album by the St. Louis rapper Nelly. As not too many people in this genre come from the area, the only other mainstream one off the top of my head (ignoring St. Lunatics) is Jibbs, so there isn't really much to offer from the city. Due to this, Nelly had little competition and quickly rose to the top, but it has been a struggle ever since as he has been criticised for doing too many songs instead of raps, and ...
...bars, he does it in a pop rap way, which is never popular with many outside of mainstream crowds.

Regardless of all Nelly has been through, I've stuck with him as pop rap is a stage in development for kids like me who want to get into Hip Hop, and without stages like listeing to those who rap in a song style, I doubt I would have eventually got to a stage where I am today in listening to this genre. With all this in mind, I chose to ... more

"Brass Knuckles" is the fifth album by the St. Louis rapper Nelly. As not too many people in this genre come from the area, the only other mainstream one off the top of my head (ignoring St. Lunatics) is Jibbs, so there isn't really much to offer from the city. Due to this, Nelly had little competition and quickly rose to the top, but it has been a struggle ever since as he has been criticised for doing too many songs instead of raps, and when he does get on the mic(rophone) to spit some bars, he does it in a pop rap way, which is never popular with many outside of mainstream crowds.

Regardless of all Nelly has been through, I've stuck with him as pop rap is a stage in development for kids like me who want to get into Hip Hop, and without stages like listeing to those who rap in a song style, I doubt I would have eventually got to a stage where I am today in listening to this genre. With all this in mind, I chose to buy the album as I know that he as going to impress me in some way as he looks to find a way of uniting the pop sound with the gangsta one.

1. "U Ain't Him" (feat. Rick Ross)

I would have been surprised at this hook-up between Nelly and Rick Ross had their not alrady been a coolab between the two, and since "Here I Am" of Ross' "Trilla" album was such a hit, I expected similar things from this. However he used the gangsta stauts of (the ex-correctional officer) Rick Ross to go for a hard Gangsta Rap track, but failed to amke it believeable, as various occassions in the past. What's most ironic about it is that Nelly raps about how he doesn't beleive others when they claim to be gangstas, as he is doing and Rick Ross if you want to get into that.

**Two Stars**

2. "Hold Up" (feat. T.I. and LL Cool J)

After many great peices when comign together in the past, T.I. returns on Nelly's latest album to offer some more of his swagger to this one, and just like before he is able to raise the standar by simply rapping out a few bars with his smooth southern accent. I would have to say that you pretty much ignore LL Cool J and Nelly's part in this as the offer little in the way of qulaity in compariosn to Atlanta's king of the south.

**Four Stars**

3. "L.A.." (feat. Snoop Dogg and Nate Dogg)

Here we haver Nelly show appreciuattion for the music which he grew up on, simialr to "Bay" later on in the bonus section of the album, but here it is special as he has two legends from the West Coast backing him up as he raps with Snoop Dogg and Nate Dogg offers some of his amazing vocals to the track. However I would have to say that it had very little energy to it, and so I didn't really enjoy listening to it as much I I have in the past when Nelly and Snoop have collaborated.

**Two Stars**

4. "Long Night" (feat. Usher)

I'm not sure if poeple have noticed this, but Usher isn't the type of R&B singing who will just take on a secondary role on a track by simply singing the chorus and having the rest of the thing being performed by another, but here this happens and I thought that it restricted him so heavily that I couldn't actually concentrate on Nelly's part, as I simply saw it as the time where Usher wasn't performing.

**Two Stars**

5. "Lie" (feat St. Lunatics and Keri Hilson)

I expected a lot from this one as Polow Da Don does the production and it features the one of the biggest female collaboraters of recent times, Keri Hilson perorming with him, however it was a huge disappointment as Nelly comes with yet another poor display of lyrical talent, and the production is so dry. This one has him perfrom a boring tune about being caught lying, and crises through the material by having the St. Lunatics do most of the rapping, but they have little to offer, as ever.

**One Star**

6. "Party People" (feat. Fergie)

This is the first track from the album, and it features the Black Eyed Peas member, Fergie. We have the southern rap specialist, Polow Da Don on production for this banging tune which is purely for the clubs. I don't really see the need for the Black Eyed Peas member, Fergie brings some lyrical fire, although it's a repettion of Nelly's words, but they still are surprising to see.

Nelly comes at us hard and sounds 'in-your-face', this isn't like what the artist is known for, so it sounds slightly out of place, but can be seen as just an alteration of his character to attempt to hype the "Party People" up. This sounds to be a more mainstream example of Crunk, which seems to have slightly phased out, so this is doing well in bringing the style back into the top of the club sub-genres of Hip Hop.

**Four Stars**

7. "Self Esteem" (feat. Chuck D)

I was extremely surprised to hear that Public Enemy frontman Chuck D was to perform on this album with a pop rapper like Nelly, and was curious to see what they could come up with together as their individual stles seem to contrast so heavily. Surprisingly it was yet another disappointment as he tries to motivate people with his lyrics, but I wasn't really buying it at all. Possibly if I was in one of the situations wih he describes, I may fall for him relating to my life, but it's just not having any effect without it. The G. Koop beat really doesn't suit Chuck D at all and he seems to force it to work.

**One Star**

8. "Body on Me (feat. Akon and Ashanti)

This track has been around a hwile as it was first a part of Ashanti's new album, "The Declaration", and was then slightly adapted onto this (with an extra rap verse to fit in on "Brass Knuckles". I liked the way that Nelly calms himself down when he's arund his love interest, Ashanti, and he comes with the R&B style, which he is often known for performing, when he isn't rapping.

**Four Stars**

9. "Stepped on J'z" (feat. Ciara and Jermain Dupri)

The "J'z" to which this track refers are Air Jordan shoes in this track, which Jermaine Dupri did the production for. As we had a track about the Air Force Ones a while ago, Nelly contunes to show his love for basketball shoes here with a track deicated to them, mentioning his school years and how he used to by them at lunch, before returning with a pair never seen before.

It's fun when you can really relate to waht an artist is saying in thier music, and although I would change the brand from Js to Bapes, Nelly really plays up to a type of track that I feel a part of, much like many more, as I imagine.

**Four Stars**

10. "Let It Go" (feat. Pharrell Williams)

Here we have a Neptunes-produced recording which features the rapper from the production group, Skateboard P (Pharrell Williams), who has worked with Nelly-Nelly on a few of occasions prior to this, once on "The Neptunes Present The Clones", "Sweat", and also on Pharrell's solo album "In My Mind". I thought that this was a very average tune by nelly as he goes for a Pop tune to suit his younger listeners, and for mature listners there is little which appeals to them.

**Two Stars**

11. "One and Only"

Polow Da Don returns to the album and offers even more eats which seem to suit R&B more than they do rap, showing that he doesn't see Nelly as that much of a rapper as he makes out. Nelly performs a love osng here, and as previous songs which he has recorded, this is just as painful to the listener.

**One Star**

12. "Chill"

After so many terrible tunes, I was in dounb as to whther he would be able to bring anymore qulaity by this stage in the record, however he finally does here as his group, the St. Lunatics come to aid him on some Wyshmaster production. Although in the past Ive said how unbeleiveable his Gangsta Rap side is, this one seems to work as the Lunatics take control here and with their mid-western accents they are able to come across as hardcore rappers. it would be flawless had Nelly not participated in it.

**Four Stars**

13. "Who F***s Wit Me" (feat. Avery Storm)

Derrty Ent. signee Avery Storm does his R&B thing on this tune by singing along with Nelly on this track, but doesn't really come with anything special, or what couldn't be replaced with by another. I wasn't feeling this as Nelly tries to rap to some Latin-styled beats, and the contrast is far too harsh to make sense, but I was into his speedy delivery of the lines.

**Two Stars**

14. "U Could Get It" (feat. R. Kelly and Gucci Mane)

This one has Nelly rap with one of the toughest Gangsta rappers from the south as the currently-incarcerated Gucci Mane raps with Nelly, and this has some influence on making him sound more believeable in the claims which he makes. I was annoyed that R. Kelly's role in this was to sing with some auto-tuning, as it basically wastes his tlanet by giving all the work to a voice-modification machine. Once again, Nelly fails at Gangsta Rap, and if Gucci can't do it for you, then you haven't got a chance.

**Two Stars*

A couple of big tracks were left off the main body of the album, and I have to comment on them , because I'm so surprising that they chose not to use such high quality pieces out. Especially since they released them as singles, and one (the second which I speak on) had a video.

"Cut It Out" (feat. Pimp C & Sean P)

This was produced by PI Productions and it would have been the first track to leak from the album (if they hadn't got rid of it) as I heard it about a year ago. It features the late Pimp C, of UGK and Sean P, of YoungBloodZ, so some of the best from all around thes Crunk Coast are presnt on this single track.

It has been around for a good year so I feel that I have had enough listens to comment on it fairly, and not just on first impressions. Pimp C really rinses the track out with his lyrics, so the rest of the track is just to settle you down after he completely rips out all of the potential from this, leaving little lef for the main artist, Nelly, and Sean P.

**Four Stars**

"Wadsyaname"

Initially, when I read the title for this, didn't have a clue how to attempt to pronounce it, and you have to listen as he says 'What's Your Name', in such a way that this phonetic writen interpretation seems to fit it well. This is a soft tune which I think would suit the clubs well.

I wasn't familiar with any work by Neff-U, prior to listening to this album, but when I heard this track from the album I was surprised to hear some nice new production talent who we could here a lot more from in the future. I think that I enjoyed it so much due to the sample which was used whcih is from my favourite R&B song of all-time, "All My Life", by K-Ci & Jojo

**Four Stars**

"Bay"

This is Nelly's chance to show us what his influences in music were, and I was rather surprised to hear that instead of having music which would be found in his immediate area, around St. Louis, he takes influence from those out West, in particular the Bay Area (including Vallejo Oakland and San Francisco).

To represent this in the best way possible, he decide to use the music which is most prominant here at the time, Hyphy, with its house-influences sounds which make it so destinctly different to anything else which Hip Hop brings and with the Hyphy producer Droop-E behind him he couldn't go wrong, executing the Bay sound perfectly.

**Five Stars**

This album is so varied in quality that it is hard to rate, however I decided that it's not really worth the money as all of the quality comes from the singles, and you are better off buying thse individual tunes rather than the whole album as once again Nelly misleads us with strong singles and disppoints when it comes to the rest of the material. It was a poor decision to drop the tunes which he did for the album and keep on stuff like "Lie", "One and Only" and "Long Night". I was annoyed that he tried once agian to win over the Gangsta Rap audience with so many collaborations, because he wastes all of this by revertng back to the old Pop tunes at various points in the record (completely miscrediing all the work which he does to come across as tough). Despite all this, I would have to say that it s his strongest album overall and he has made some strong improvements since his early days when he was simply terrible with the raps. 

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