Suit [PA] - Nelly > Reviews > The Second Half of Trash

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Lacking inspiration
Lyrics	Dire
Quality and consistency of tracks	Mixed
Value for Money

Advantages:	A Handful of Good Songs
Disadvantages:	Everything else

Recommend to potential buyers:

no

Full review

Doing a classic double album in hip-hop is no easy task. 2pac and The Notorious B.I.G., two of the most overrated rappers ever, attempted it and didn't get anything higher than 4 Stars. More recently, Jay-Z and Outkast did it, both getting amazing acclaim in the mainstream, but delivering mediocre albums when compared to some of their previous work. Listening to Jay-Z brag for almost 2 hours in a row isn't fun, and neither is hearing Big Boi and Andre on SEPARATE albums. In my humble opinion, The Wu-Tang Clan were the only set of artists to successfully create a gritty, double-disc album that was enjoyable all the way through. So for somebody who's never made an album past mediocrity, it would be damn near impossible and probably stupid to be attempted by a smart man. As we now know, Nelly isn't a smart man. As I said in my previous review, Nelly has decided to cash in on his incredible mainstream success with teenage girls and released 2 separate albums on the same day, for an incredibly inflated price, as two halves of one whole double album. Perhaps if somebody with proven ability did the same, then we'd get our money's worth. But let's be honest here, how in the hell can somebody like Nelly, who is as good a rapper as I am an ass-kisser, release a double album and expect anybody with an IQ over 30 to buy into his nonsense? Well he did, with SweatSuit.

Suit is the second half of the two-disc journey through intense torture that one Cornell Haynes insists on putting us through. While Sweat was advertised to be a more light-hearted, club-influenced album with no signs of intelligence or emotion. So if you're a gullable female who enjoys to show off her private parts in front of horny, drunken men who only care about what's below your neck, then by all means, spend your stripper money on it. Suit however was intruiging, as it was advertised as a more laid-back, sing-songy album finding Nelly actually relying on subject matter, revolving around love and emotion. By no means am I against that. It's something anybody can relate to. In fact, an album of Nelly singing about love isn't really so bad, specially since that means he won't be rapping as much. However, it's Nelly, and just how good can it be? Obviously not so good...

Track List & Rating

1. Play It Off f/ Pharrell Williams (2 Stars)
2. Pretty Toes f/ Jazze Pha (1 Star)
3. My Place f/ Jaheim (3 1/2 Stars)
4. Paradise (1 Star)
5. She Don't Know My Name f/ Snoop Dogg & Ron Isley (1 1/2 Star)
6. N Dey Say (2 1/2 Stars)
7. Woodgrain and Leather wit a Hole (1 Star)
8. In My Life f/ Avery Storm and Mase (1 Star)
9. Over and Over f/ Tim McGraw (4 Stars)
10. Nobody Knows f/ Anthony Hamilton (3 1/2 Stars)
11. Die For You (3 Stars)

I don't know if this is some kind of sick joke by Nelly, but "Play It Off" is far from being emotional. This indeed falls into the "song for the ladies" category, but beneath the surface is nothing more than yet another club song, only with a much better beat and actually winds up being catchy. Nelly, as usual, spits his watered-down, mono-syllable lyrics revolving around rap/singing about a girl's body and how it's apparently driving him insane. Not too creative subject matter, although at least for once it's refreshing to hear him NOT brag. The song is poppy and clean, and a bit likable, but it's utter lack of depth and somewhat shallow subject matter completely kill it.

I won't lie. When I first heard "My Place", I liked it. I can't deny that Jahiem is a talented R&B singer and even Nelly has a knack for making songs like this sound good. The production brings about nostalgia (violin and piano) and sounds a heck of a lot like "Dilemma", only a whole lot better (no annoying "uhh" vocal samples). Why do I like this song? Well, I won't lie, it was crafted very nicely. The mixing of the sing-songy rapping from Nelly, and Jahiem's excellently powerful R&B voice sounds great together, and I wish the whole album was like this. But the most important reason why I personally felt this song is because I can relate to it, specially the first verse. In fact, Nelly had a truly great song in his hands by the end of the first chorus, but fucks it up on the second verse when he drops the emotion and starts to rap about how good the "sex" was. It's amazing that even when Nelly has the momentum in his favor, he proceeds to fuck it up as only he can. On the contrary, the first verse is awesome, not for it's lyricism (which is terribly simple and repetitive), but for the message he's sending out, which I am personally sending out right now:

"I used to pride myself on being the other man, But now it's flipped and I don't want you with no other man, Why can't you understand that anything I'm offering, I gave you the world, but you just wanted arguing, From the time I picked you up, until the time I dropped you off again, Even flipped out on me at the mall again, "It's all his fault again" that's what you tellin all ya friends, I ain't pointing fingers ma, I just wanna call again, See how ya day goin', I know they stressin on ya, I know them times get hard that's why I'm checkin on ya, It's yours truly ma, I got little message for ya, Anything he can do, girl I can do better for ya"

Me being a huge Isley Brothers' fan, I was dissapointed to hear the Godfather of R&B Ron Isley on the awful "She Don't Know My Name". Ron Isley's singing is good, as it always is, but everything else on the song is terrible. Over carribean/spanish production, Snoop and Nelly, two of the worst rappers ever, trade verses about the girl of their dreams and yadda yadda... I don't like it. "N Dey Say" is refreshing though, but not due to Nelly. This is yet another false tribute to a female that probably doesn't exist, as Nelly spits about an hold friend whom he sees in a new light. The subject matter finds Nelly comforting his female friend after her rough life, which isn't really bad at all, and provides something with at least some depth. The lyrics are average, as usual, but it's the beat that makes it cool. Nelly samples Spandau Ballet's "True", which might not sound like much now, but when you hear the beat, you will know exactly what it is. As expected, Nelly can't keep his promises. "Woodgrain and Leather wit a Hole" completely breaks the premise of this album. As I said, this is supposed to a disc composed of slower-paced, more emotional music, but oh no. Nelly, the king of crap, decides he MUST brag about his new expensive car. Borrowing a page from Jay-Z's personality, Nelly brags on and on about his expensive car with a sunroof over synthesized midwest production. Can anybody spell boring? Yet another reason why Nelly deserves to be run over by a bulldozer, elephant, and the Harlem Boys Choir.

Without a doubt the most surprising thing about this album is "Over and Over", which is a good song that features Nelly (obviously) teaming with country singer Tim McGraw. I'm no country fan, but Tim McGraw does his part very well even though he's got a small one (a bridge and the end of the verses). One thing that people should realize immediately is that this song is far from being hip-hop. It's a mixture of pop, R&B, and country, with Nelly singing his verses and Tim backing him. The song follows a slow-tempo formation, with a slow, haunting guitar melody and piano. Surprisingly, this becomes only the second 4 Star rating for a Nelly song in his career, which is quite a milestone in the Big Book of Big D.

What's this? Nelly actually gives us introspective music? I kid you not. On "Nobody Knows", Nelly reminisces about his semi-bullshit past about growing up in a rough childhood on the streets, running from cops and selling drugs and whatnot. It has been well documented that Nelly did indeed sell drugs, but he overexaggerates it so much on this album that any trained ear can tell that it's a farce. The good thing about the song that I must say is that it's a "rags to riches" story about looking within oneself to heal pain, and it's over decent Jermaine Dupri production (yeah, he sucks too). Anthony Hamilton is the definition of neo-soul (well, alongside Erykah Badu), and delivers a great chorus on this cut.

Nelly finishes the album off with a dedication to his son and daughter on "Die For You". After a telephone call to his daughter to wish her a happy birthday, the song goes right into one of those annoying southern beats. Nelly needs to realize that he can't hit certain notes, which is why the chorus here is completely whack, and that's if you ignore the idiocy of the writing. The lyrics are unbelievably simple and get annoying, but the song-writing within the song is decent. Nelly basically storytells in a narrative fashion about the birth of his own daughter and his feelings for her (i.e. Eminem). The song gets a high rating because it's unique to hear Nelly do a song about his family and not talk about getting head from his girlfriend, or singing about his car. Nelly actually remains focused, which is something he has seldom done in the past (see "Loven Me"). It's a good song, not great, but it shows that Nelly HAS the ability to produce SOME good music... ehhh... or maybe he just got lucky.

Well, 4-for-4 when it comes to bad albums, and this time, it's two in a row. Even though Suit is Nelly's best and most complete album, it's still mainly garbage. Nelly's lyricism and writing skill are still as low as can possibly be. Nelly refuses to stay on topic, and far too often tries too damn hard to appeal to his female fans by making essentially the same song over and over again with different lyrics, and that folks, is boring. So all in all, SweatSuit was a failure, but are we really surprised? Did we really think Nelly, somebody who's intelligence is equal to that of a dead racoon, could produce a DOUBLE album and expect it to be even listenable? Nope. I say, download the good songs and pocket your money for something more worthwhile, like a pencil sharpener.

2 Stars