Two For Tuesday
Nelly
Sweatsuit
(Universal)
Universal does what it should have in the first place, condensing Nelly’s Sweat and Suit albums into a conventional, single-disc release.
Give Nelly credit for lasting longer than most of us had him pegged for. He took the basics of Bone Thugs-N-Harmony’s melodic flow and turned himself into the Burger King of rappers (Will Smith being McDonald’s). Despite nearly a decade of chart success, it was still a surprise when Universal agreed to release two new albums simultaneously given not only a fickle public, but one that isn’t buying records anymore. Though sales were modest, the discs were a critical failure, each packed with more styrofoam popcorn than a mail-order shipment of fine dinnerware.
Sweatsuit, which would have saved a lot of people a lot of money had it been offered at the same time, still isn’t a great record. The tacked on “Grillz,” featuring Paul Wall, Ali, and Gipp, has reached the top of the charts unexpectedly — as only an ode to capped teeth should — but the next Now That’s What I Call Music comp will carry it and prove a much more cohesive album, to boot.
— Steve Forstneger
