 "Photo: Courtesy Universal Music Group")
Nelly recently released his first studio album in five years: “Brass Knuckles.” He has had major success with his first four releases, selling millions of records worldwide. “Brass Knuckles” falls short of his previous work.
Nelly finds himself in an awkward position with this album. At 34 years old, he is still young enough to be relevant in the music industry. However, he will not be making any tween anthems like Soulja Boy’s.
Thankfully, he has never been a gangster rapper, so he did not go that route with “Brass Knuckles.” He is in excellent physical condition, similar to LL Cool J, but that does not bring about good music.
“Brass Knuckles” suffers, but it is not from lack of effort; it is from lack of execution. Nelly has released several singles off of the album, none of which have become legitimate hits.
"Party People,” featuring Fergie, disappeared soon after being released. “Stepped on My J’z,” featuring Ciara, suffered the same fate.
The one single that received some airplay was “Body on Me,” featuring Akon and Ashanti. Nonetheless, that one song was not nearly enough to make this album a commercial success.
Nelly chose to use a high-pitched voice to rap certain songs on his album. This technique was not appropriate for the slower songs like “Long Night,” featuring Usher. He corrected this for “One and Only,” where the slow melody combined with a conversational delivery produced a solid track.
“Brass Knuckles” does have some bright spots. “Hold Up,” featuring T.I. and LL Cool J; “One and Only”; and “Who F*cks Wit’ Me” are all promising tracks.
“Brass Knuckles” will definitely appeal to hardcore Nelly fans and I commend Nelly for trying to make a good album. However, his sub-par execution ultimately brings about this CD’s downfall.
Grade: C
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