well its nice....but
Mainly produced by Jason “Jay E” Epperson, the album follows the typical St. Lunatics style. Some dirty dirty, some clubbish stuff all mixed up with a Jay E blender, and it’s St. Lunatics. “Hot In Herre”, the clubbanger, is right now bangin’ clubs, the Neptunes (“and a little bit of ough, ough!”) are definitely off the hook as far as the dancefloor is concerned-no need to talk about the lyrics, it’s a clubbanger. “Pimp Juice” is all about pimpin’, and so far a weak track. I’m sorry Nel’ but you start this pimp shit YEARS after the West coast dudes were (!) pimps! Okay, it’s still nothing but cars and cash, but you can do better! “Air Force Ones” w/ St. Lunatics is a funny ode to the white sneaks with the gum bottom, but then somehow becomes lame. Then again, “On The Grind” with King Jacob represents Nelly the hungry version, appealing and on the grind, which I like much more. “Dilemma” with Kelly Rowland (nice hook!) starts like a ballad but eventually becomes a ghetto-king-loved-by-all-women-even-by-the-married-ones type of thing – not that new, really! Back to the good stuff: “Work It” with Justin Timberlake is one of the most courageous collabos a hip hop artist ever made: it’s about credibility, ‘cause *NSYNC are (pop)chartbreakers and so far not credible to the standard hip hop fan. The track/song contains too much singing for my taste, but it still manages to persuade, ‘cause Timberlake for real can sing and Nelly gives burnin’ verses. The production done by Jay E however gives Timberlake too less a carpet – the hook actually falls short of the rest, nevertheless it’s not bad. The best track of the whole record is the “Roc The Mic”-Remix performed by Freeway, Beanie Sigel, Nelly and Murphy Lee. I must admit I never heard Sigel starting off a track in such a dope manner. This one’s a burner! “#1” is already known, “CG 2” with all the St. Lunatics continues the old Country Grammar saga but comes off with a smoother, softer beat – better to my taste. And then, “Say Now” uses a slow production and gives Nelly time to talk about haters and ghetto. A good move.
Overall, Nelly lacks of the deep things: of the mentality, of the attitude, of the stories… But he has some entertaining things on this record, so I’d say it’s worth checkin’ out even for the haters and definitely worth buyin’ for the fans.
OVERALL RATING: 3/5
REVIEWED BY: tickyz
ADDED: 2002-07-07
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