Nelly:
Suit

Release Date: 13 September 2004

Reviewed By: Melisa Tang

1. Play It Off - feat, Pharrell Williams

2. Pretty Toes - feat Jazze Pha, T.I.

3. My Place - feat, Jaheim

4. Paradise

5. She Don't Know My Name - feat, Snoop Dogg, Ron Isley

6. N Dey Say

7. Woodgrain And Leather With A Hole

8. In My Life - feat, Avery Storm, Mase

9. Over And Over - feat, Tim McGraw

10. Nobody Knows - feat, Anthony Hamilton

11. Die For You

12. Ride Wit Me - feat, City Spud

13. Dilemma - feat, Kelly Rowland, Ali

Nelly - Sweat
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Having had so much success with the hot lead single ‘My Place’ featuring Jaheim, Nelly showcases the rest of his slow jam material on ‘Suit’, the second part of a historical two-album release.

On the strength of his reputation and the lead single alone, Nelly has gone on to sell over a million copies of ‘Sweat’ and ‘Suit’ worldwide, taking the No.1 and No.2 spots in the opening week on the US Billboard Hot 100 Albums, a feat only the band Guns N’ Roses have achieved.

The jump-off on ‘Suit’ is the infectious ‘Play It Off’ featuring the vocals of Pharrell Williams of The Neptunes. A fine song to release as the follow-up single, ‘Play It Off’ sees Nelly and Pharrell finding it hard to resist the temptations of the fairer sex, trying not to get too attached to their girls. The next track, ‘Pretty Toes’ featuring Jazze Pha and T.I., is a faster flowing song, with T.I. showing the world his more sensitive side with a good verse midway through the song. Jazze Pha doesn’t do a bad job either, singing about the “pretty toes all around the world”.

With so many featured artists on ‘Suit’, the one which stands out is ‘She Don’t Know My Name’ with Snoop Dogg and Ron Isley. On this joint, Nelly, Snoop and Mr Isley take it back to the Seventies, with their funk soul vibe making this track look comfortable on one of those ‘Best of the Seventies’ compilations! A great song to chill to, ‘She Don’t Know My Name’ will have you swaying along to the beat in no time!

Using a sample from ‘True’ by Spandau Ballet, Nelly blesses ‘N Dey Say’ with his sexy voice and his slick flow, doing a pretty good job with what could have turned out to be a huge disaster. However, the next couple of tracks should have been ditched before they ever even made it onto the shortlist for the album, as ‘Woodgrain And Leather Wit A Hole’ was far, far, far below the standard I expected of Nelly. When I saw the playlist, I looked forward to hearing the Nelly/Ma$e collaboration on ‘In My Life’, but was a little disappointed with what I found on the track, which also features Avery Storm. Both rhymes from Nelly and Ma$e were only alright; nothing special from either rapper, and nothing that made me press the ‘replay’ button on my iPod.

A track which did impress me though, was ‘Over and Over’ featuring country artist Tim McGraw. Although the country/rap thing is now more popular, not all collaborations work well, and I was afraid that this would be one of them. I was pleasantly surprised however, and this was really soothing on my ears, one of the album’s real gems.

As with the ‘Sweat’ LP, Nelly includes UK bonuses, which are remixes of previous hits ‘Ride Wit Me’ featuring City Spud, and ‘Dilemma’ featuring Kelly Rowland and Ali from the St. Lunatics. Although the originals were great, these beats are quite different, and are definitely worth a listen to.

Releasing two separate albums on the same day would be a challenge to any artist to make a success, but Nelly makes it look real easy. ‘Suit’ was marketed more at the female fans, but it’s a great album to chill out to whether you’re a guy or a girl, so make sure you pick up a copy soon!

Rating: 4 out of 5

Top 3 tracks:
1) Play It Off
5) She Don’t Know My Name
9) Over And Over

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