Nelly "Sweat" Album

	Title: Sweat Format: Album Label: Universal Released: 2004-09-14
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Tracklisting & Lyrics

Reviews

While its companion disc Suit offers Nelly at his most mature and refined, Sweat takes direct aim at the "Hot in Herre" crowd. Why not? "Hot in Herre" has reached karaoke proportions. Nelly wastes little time here in reminding everyone just how great he is on "Na-Nana-Na," where he recites an inventory of his accomplishments over a smattering of found sounds and drum breaks. The Neptunes-hemmed "Flap Your Wings" may reestablish him as the king of club rap, with its infectious "drop down and get your eagle on, girl" chant that comes with an accompanying dance. "Tilt Ya Head Back," featuring a subpar Christina Aguilera, and the dubby "River Don't Runnn" are both confounding yet genetically engineered for radio airplay. Don't hate the player, hate the game. Who else would have the nerve to re-jig the instantly recognizable John Tesh "NBA on NBC" theme ("Heart of a Champion") into a hip-hop club track? ~Dalton Higgins, Amazon.com.

Nelly's decision to release his suit project as two respective albums, and -- the former clubby and insincere, the latter refined and mannered -- is somewhat of a mixed blessing. On the one hand, it's nice to pick whichever side of Nelly's persona you prefer, whether in general or at any particular moment; on the other hand, the separate-album concept makes for two very one-dimensional albums that begin to sound formulaic by their respective conclusions. The thing is, Nelly has plenty of great songs here on these two albums. Quality certainly isn't an issue -- he works with a who's who of pop-rap circa 2004, from the Neptunes to Christina Aguilera to Snoop Dogg to Missy Elliott, and ends up with a wealth of certified and could-be hits. Yet by sorting them into two different categories and then lumping them together onto two separate CDs, the diversity at hand is nullified. Granted, this two-styles, two-discs approach worked well for OutKast on (and less well, but well nonetheless, for R. Kelly on ), but it doesn't work so well for Nelly. His suit recordings are diverse, for sure, but OutKast he isn't, nor is he the Pied Piper. Rather, Nelly is essentially a pop star who happens to rap, and as such, he specializes in calculated pop formulas -- namely clubby, cocky party songs (previously "Hot in Herre," presently "Flap Your Wings") and sweet, sultry love songs (previously "Dilemma," presently "My Place"). And by sorting those two formulas into respective albums, the calculation becomes overt and comes across as formulaic to discerning listeners. The key, then, is to not be a discerning listener: it's best to just let these songs play and take them for what they are -- well-done popcraft.
The disc in particular features, at least, a half-dozen songs that could be smash hits, whether on radio, on MTV, or in clubs: "Na-Nana-Na," "Flap Your Wings," "Tilt Ya Head Back," "Grand Hang Out," "Playa," and "Boy" are all first-rate party rap, on a par with anything else out there on the market in 2004. The others are above average also, resulting in a damn impressive lineup of songs. But they're all distinctly clubby and therefore get a little tiring after a while. It'd be nice to have some of the steamy slow jams from interspersed throughout, if only for the sake of variety, not to mention an occasional (heavy) breather. Still, good music is good music, and Nelly comes up a winner here on . In no shape or manner is this disc a disappointment -- it lives up to its billing and then some. Had Nelly blended these songs with those of into a double-disc buffet or, better yet, cherry-picked them for a single-disc bouquet, he'd have a truly amazing album. (Doing just that on your PC or Mac is highly recommended, by the way, and quite fun.) ~Jason Birchmeier, All Music Guide.