Nelly – Brass Knuckles Album Review

This is the new album by Nelly titled Brass Knuckles. This album is actually pretty descent outing for the St. Louis bred rapper. Here’s my play by play. Take it for what you want.

The first cut off the album is a cut by the name of You Ain’t Him featuring Rick Ross. Without any fluff, he jumps right into the album with this bass heavy track about being that dude that people are trying to be.

The next track is Hold Up featuring T.I. and LL Cool J (Who Nelly is sure to become). Here he talks about how rappers want to be him (young, black and rich) and how you should think big, “your only goal is to buy out the mall. I go to buy me the mall…” Next T.I. blesses the song with his braggadocio about buying whatever he wants and doing whatever he likes. Uncle L is rapping as if Nelly was his ghostwriter. He seems Very uninspiring, sorry to my LL fans. He claims at one point to being the Blueprint.

After kicking it with T.I. and LL he decides to dip on over to the left coast and hook up with Snoop on L.A. A song about what else, L.A. The beat is very west coast as Snoop easily rides on the hook. Nate Dogg makes an appearance to make this an official tribute to the west coast.

Next he slows it down a bit with a mid tempo joint called A Long Night featuring Usher. He seems to be singing more than Usher is on this one while Usher’s hook sounds like more of a rap as he talks about how long of a night it will be. This is sure to be a lady’s pleaser with it’s seductive beat.

He follows that with another mid tempo track about relationship problems called Lie featuring the St. Lunatics. Here he raps/sings on this track, followed closely behind by Ali, Murphy Lee and Kyjuan about how people try to tear apart relationships with lies and he say/she say foolishness.

After the Lie is the first official single Party People featuring Polow Da Don and Fergie. This energetic track is just as the title suggests. For the party people. The beat is very upbeat and bass heavy as he raps/sings about getting the party started. Going back to his first album roots by using quick-rap (yes I made that word up). Even Fergie gets hers off on this track by matching Nelly’s quick-rap with her own. Definitely a club banger.

After getting the party started he hooks up with chuck D (yes, THE Chuck D of Public Enemy) on Self Esteem. A song about believing in yourself and having self worth in order to reach your goals and be that person that you can be. Talking about how he overcame adversity to be the person he is today. A very positive track for young people, and anyone for that matter, to hear and take to heart.

After uplifting you, he hits you with his single Body On Me featuring Akon and Ashanti. Here he talks about how much he wants to be there and take care of his woman.

His newest Nike Tribute song Stepped On My J’z features Jermaine Dupri and Ciara. Another tribute to a shoe style. This is similar to his earlier hit Air Force Ones (I still blame him for sending the price of Uptowns from $40 to $75). A nice beat with a catchy hook. You can’t go wrong with that; especially if you’re a Jordan Fanatic like me, (# 4’s and 6’s are my favorites). Even Ciara joins in by singing about her love for Jordan’s. ” I got me the black and pink patent leather with the gray matching with the skinny jeans off with the shades”.

After bragging about his exclusive shoes, he moves on to Let it Go (Lil Mama) featuring and Pharrell. Now this is a banger! He rides this Neptune beat to death. It may be a DMV (D.C. Maryland Virginia) bias but this beat by Pharrell is by far the best on the entire album. He actually steps his rap game up on this one. With opening lines like “ They call me Mr. Intellectual/ I keep a bunch of vegetables/ the carrots and the broccoli/ How the hell could you stop me.” Not lyricist of the year worthy but better than most of what is out now. This song is all about braggadocio and getting that guap (money). Here’s another gem, “my paint job so wet my license plate reads ‘pussy’”.

The next track is One and Only. Kind of similar to Dilemma from Nellyville minus Kelly Rowland. Here he is talking to the girl that he was with growing up that will always be his one and only love. He wants to be with her but of course, she is with someone else. I guess he just wanted to get that off his chest (been there done that).

On the next track Chill, featuring the St. Lunatics he raps about how you can either chill or get knocked out. Basically saying, don’t try them. “You really talking reckless right now/ and we know you ain’t built for that”. I see somebody has been listening to Get Rich or Die Tryin’ one too many times…

Next up is Who F**ks Wit Me Featuring Avery Storm. The track is crazy. The acoustic guitar rides smoothly over some heavy bass. On this one, he once again raps about being a baller and how he is “earning interest as I speak”. Basis of this song is that men lie, women lie but numbers don’t.

The final song on the album is Ucud Gedit (his spelling, not mine) featuring Gucci Mane and R. Kelly. Ummera… Honestly, he could have left this off the album. It sucks badly. Gucci Mane always sounds like he has a head cold and is stuffed up, while R. Kelly is the same as always.

Overall, this album is a good. In today’s market, it will not have the same success as his previous albums, but lyrically it is the same caliber if not better. It’s at least worth the download (legally, of course). I give it 3.5 out of a possible 5.