It seems that most people either love Nelly or hate him. I always just thought he was okay. I was initially surprised that he was releasing two albums, and I was flabbergasted to learn that he was originally going to release FIVE albums. Anyway, Sweat seems to be for the fellas, so I gave it a spin.

I didn't expect this album to be all that great, but actually it's better than I thought it would be. But don't get too excited; I rated it three stars. Anyway, there ARE some songs on here that have potential to be hits, like the obligatory Jazze Pha track "Na-Nana-Na" (it's not called "Can We Leave Her" (here) like a lot of people think). And "Another One" is especially interesting due to Nelly's diss to Chingy (but does anyone really care about a Nelly vs. Chingy beef?). There are also some okay songs like "Getcha Getcha" and "American Dream" (both featuring St. Lunatics).

But there's also a whole lot of filler, like "Tilt Ya Head Back" (with Christina Aguilera) and the necessary Neptunes track, "Flap Your Wings" (by the way, what exactly does "drop down and get your eagle on" mean?). And "Grand Hang Out" (with Fat Joe, Young Tru and Remy Martin) suffers because of two things: the lame chorus and Young Tru's entire verse. "Spida Man" makes no sense at all; and "Heart of a Champion", which uses the NBA on NBC's music as its backdrop, should have never made it out of the studio.

Another thing people have probably noticed about this album is that it's just LITTERED with guest stars. This album is probably perfect for fans of Nelly, but everyone else will just say it's okay. It would be fine for a party, making Sweat live up to its title, but fans looking for substance will most likely want to check out something else.

Anthony Rupert

P.S. In response to another reviewer, "Over and Over" is on Suit, not Sweat.

Being a fan of R&B, I listened to Nelly's album, "Suit" in hopes of finding some decent R&B songs. I wasn't expecting much though I was still sadly disappointed. The album was not nearly as classy as people made it out to be and Nelly is in no way a great rapper. Nonetheless, I figured I might as well give his other new album a fair shot. "Sweat" is supposed to be the more club-centred of the two so listeners should not go in looking for substance. This album features far less guest appearances than its counterpart though each album has its odd guest. (Christina Aguilera on this one, Tim McGraw on "Suit"). I'm sure just the name Christina Aguilera on this album will be enough to get people to buy it but they will be buying at their own risk.

"Heart of a Champion" has great background music though the rest of the song does not live up to that. Nelly's rap is quite average. However, the chorus does sound particularly great. The verses contain a lot of name-dropping and some shouting, which detracts from the overall quality. At least this song is a little more memorable than much of the material on "Suit". The extraordinarily irritating "Na-Na-Na-Na" is up next. The song is repetitive and grating even for a dance song although I guess if you were in a club it wouldn't matter as you can dance to it. However, wouldn't most of us be buying these CDs for listening to at our houses and therefore not be in a club? Maybe I'm reading too far into this. Also, the song is far too long considering that it isn't even that good. "Flap Your Wings" is up next and is no better. Although I didn't think this was possible, it is even more repetitive than the song before it.

As I was listening to the album, I was looking for a file on the computer and the song switched to "American Dream". It was three minutes into that song before I even noticed the song had changed at all. That says a lot about the album: a lot of the songs (and I'm only on the fifth one) blend together. However, it is not the good kind of blending that makes it a coherent album; it's the kind that makes every song undistinguishable. "River Don't Runn" (why does Nelly keep insisting on adding extra letters to his words?) is up next and sounds exactly like the two songs before it. Even though this features Murphy Lee of the St. Lunatics, nothing is done to make this song stand out. It merely sounds like good background music with Nelly droning on over it. "Tilt Ya Head Back" with Christina Aguilera is up next. It is far from Christina's best work but it is a welcome addition to this album. However, unlike say, Usher and Alicia Keys, Nelly and Christina have very little vocal chemistry. Christina gives her usual great performance but Nelly could have done better.

"Grand Hang Out" is a little better for the simple reason that it is slightly more memorable than most of the other songs. I'm pretty sure this song features someone, as the rap sounds as though it was done by multiple people, though no one else is credited. Also, there is a part done by a female rapper so it is odd that no one was credited. The song however is at least a minute too long. "Getcha Getcha" is a typical club song. All style and no substance. It is repetitive and the cheers in the background are grating. Even dance songs can have substance. Artists like Sharyn Maceren and even T.A.T.U. managed to have meaningful lyrics into their dance songs. So really, there is no excuse as to why this song couldn't have been better. "Another One" is a very odd song with references to everyone from the Fresh Prince of Bel Air to Moses. The lyrics are very hard to follow and the beat isn't even that good to make up for it.

"Spider Man" is a misleading title, as the song has nothing to do with the character, the movie or even spiders. The song seems unnaturally slowed down and Nelly does his usual mispronunciations. ("bewurr" instead of "beware"). Am I the only one that finds it annoying? The song is once again incoherent and Nelly mentions Moses once again as well as mentioning counting his money. "Playa" with Missy Elliot and Havoc is up next. Missy sings a little (a word or two) in the beginning and actually sounds great. Otherwise, the song lacks individuality. "Down in Da Water," sounds more like a continuation of the song than a song on its own. Lastly comes "Boy" featuring someone called Big Gipp and sounds the exact same to me as a majority of other songs on the album. As least the beat in this one is somewhat different.

Overall Mark: 2/5

Overall, Nelly's "Sweat" album is no better than "Suit". It only has two memorable songs and the rest all sound the same. Nelly has yet to prove himself as a distinguishable artist. Most people only remember him for "Dilemma" and "Hot In Herre" though that may not be a bad thing as "Dilemma" was the only good song that I've heard of his (other than "My Place"). Several songs either seem to have unaccredited guest rappers (on Amazon and the internet site I was listening to anyway, maybe their names are listed on the album itself) or if not, Nelly's voice changes quite often. Even for a club album, this could use some better lyrics or at least better beats. Also, club songs should be at least somewhat memorable so people dancing to them would recognize them. Also, as I mentioned earlier, don't most people buy albums for their homes? In that case, an album purely for the clubs is probably not such a good idea.

I bought this album expecting the worst, and my expectations were not only met but exceeded. This CD is nickelback bad. Nelly was on his way to the basement with his last album that featured country grammar #2 amongst other putrid songs. Now he's hit rock bottom, right alongside Master P and the rest of the New No Limit. I'm not a rapper but I think I could produce better beats out of my basement over a weekend. To think this cd took more than a week to make saddens me to no end about the state of the music industry. and further, it saddens me about the state of humanity that people will actually enjoy this cd and nelly will probably recieve more undeserving grammy nominations. I'm just glad that nelly didnt put another country grammar on this album. I guess he's saving CG 3 for album #5. flap your wings is the worst single ever. not only is nelly a terrible lyricist but he also can't even recognize which one of his songs is least terrible. I mean, there were at least 3 songs on the CD that didn't cause me to bleed from my ears, whereas flap your wings has caused a large tumor to grow in my head and kill off the part of my brain that recieves auditory signals. Listen at your own risk my people. Nelly = Death via horrible rap beats and lyrics

Man oh man does this stink. I'm writing this review for both albums because both albums are garbage. I noticed a lot of people claiming the production on these two albums is tight. Are you sure we're listening to the same two albums here? I don't know, perhaps there are another two Nelly albums lurking out there with amazing production or something because the two albums I'm listening to are about as inspiring as elevator music. There is not one single song on either of the two albums that tickles my eardrum. Even "Play It Off", the track produced by the Neptunes, is ugly.

And the guest appearances? Wow. A duet with Christina Aguilera ("Tilt Ya Head Back") and Tim McGraw ("Over and Over")? Please. I mean I'm all for artists expanding their boundaries and yadda yadda yadda but do you really think hip hop heads want to listen to Tim McGraw? No. Do you think country heads want to listen to Nelly? No. This is crossover music at its worst.

I can understand the Christina collaboration because Nelly fits a lot more into the pop mold than he does hip hop, but as Chris Rock best puts it, you can drive a car with your feet but that doesn't make it a good idea.

One could argue that releasing two albums is a pretty good idea because it can potentially double your sales, but in order for that to happen you need two actually good albums. The same thing happened to Outkast. Had the Love Below and Speakerboxx combined its best tracks on each album to create one it would have been off the hook, but instead you have two albums marred by inconsistency. At least Andre and Big Boi put out some good songs; I cannot think of a single track on Sweat or Suit that deserves any attention. A dead giveaway that these two albums are terrible is the single they chose to lead it all off with, "My Place" (you know the video). Everyone (and I mean everyone) hated that duet he did with Kelly Rowland a couple of years ago - well, this is just the same song but with Jaheim singing the hook instead of Kelly. Come on Jaheim, you're the next Teddy Pendergrass - you can do better.

You will adore these two albums if your taste in music is determined almost exclusively by what the radio plays. I'm not trying to hate, just some people like to limit themselves like that, is all. Otherwise, don't even give this album a second look if you're looking for something fresh. This is redundant garbage and I assure you that if you dig a little deeper than the radio or BET you will find lesser known artists with infinitely better material.

Wow, two albums both at the top of the charts? I bet the record executives didn't plan that, huh? And the U.S. is just that easy to score off when you're a cocky pretender like Nelly. I can't believe both albums are at the top. This is outrageous. Flabbergasting. Ridiculous. Hopeless. The music nowadays (not just rap, almost every genre) has regressed and been diluted so bad that Nelly can get so much attention and hype for three albums in a row. MC Hammer, Vanilla Ice, etc. were hyped up too but could not ride fame that long before being pointed out as phonies and being ridiculed. And Nelly's basically pulling the same sh*t only in today's sh**ty music world. Don't try and say otherwise.
Okay, go ahead and say that I have too much time on my hands! I do at the moment, but while I do, I'm gonna try and do something to try and stop ignorance as much as I can through this. Some artists are sellouts in that they can make real music that is meaningful but they change their agenda to make more money and appease more. Nelly is not a sellout. He's just not a very bright guy, apparently. Making true and meaningful music is most likely beyond him, and he probably grew up listening to the radio and watching videos thinking that was what rap music is. And now he is is just doing his version of what he thinks rap music is. No doubt, his bling-bling, playa, thug facade is still selling to America the slut.
I would say hiphop is dead too, but with so many 'real' albums coming out this year (Gift of Gab, Brand Nubian, KRS, Kool Keith, and upcoming De La Soul, Talib Kweli, Mos Def, Dr. Octagon, and possibly Tribe Called Quest) underground and old-school style hiphop is making a comeback whether the mainstream recognizes that or not. Do yourself a favor and quit listening to the radio. Do your homework and seek out albums that made a big impact in the past and still have meaning today (any type of music)! Open your eyes, quit living in the dark, slap yourself and realize that just because Nelly has MTV's and Grammy attention does not mean that he represents the best kind of music of this genre.
I will be suprised if this review gets posted. I wrote extended reviews criticizing recent Kanye West and Jadakiss albums only to have Amazon's reviewing system go down when I sent them and they never got posted. Plus, I didn't have the energy to write the reviews over again. What a conspiracy! Why doesn't Amazon advertise good albums like Brand Nubian's lastest on the main page for Rap & Hip Hop (I saw it on there for like two days)? Oh fine, go ahead and buy one or two of Nelly's albums and just plan to hear SHEER entertainment that really offers nothing or gives anything back. You'll look at this album at the bottom of your collection two years from now (or sooner) and wonder what you were thinking (or taking) and remember I told you so!