5.0

Nelly knows what he is worth

The rapper and vocalist Nelly’s manner of performance is always easy to recognize. The artist behind more than one hot hip-hop hit is never dissatisfied with his results, knows what he is worth and thus prefers to collaborate only with those he chooses himself. One can hardly tell that Nelly tries hard to keep up with fashionable trends in that respect or that he strives for recording duets with the most wanted artists. He either estimates his once made choice as a wrong one and never returns to the person or invites those he likes to record new tracks again. Certainly Nelly has been long planning to make some new interesting projects but it still seems not to be their turn, then again, it is high time to release his sixth studio work, which is the great record 5.0. If the previous album, 2008’s Brass Knuckles, mainly contained rap compositions full of pathos and self-admiration, 5.0 also offers some successful pop melodies which are, as before, collaborations with the artist’s guest colleagues, and there is more than one potential hit among them ready to conquer the world’s dance floors.

The artist performs four of twelve tracks on 5.0 by himself

Actually, it is enough to look at the track-list to make sure that Nelly is faithful to himself as ever recording the album with his friends or good acquaintances, inviting some young performers as well whom he has probably considered worthy of taking part in the recording process. Nevertheless the artist performs four of twelve tracks by himself. The album opens with I'm Number 1 featuring Baby and DJ Khaled, the song that could well be on any of Nelly’s other records for the artist is loudly informing the listener of his superiority and uniqueness. Chris Brown’s vocals and Plies’ rap verse refine the third single Long Gone built on a melodious sample making it clear that we may expect something interesting to follow. Traditionally as it has become, T.I. adds passion to the light-minded danceable track She's So Fly with a very simple and memorable chorus. Whereas the first single Just A Dream has already managed to become one of the most successful in the rapper’s career which is no surprise regarding its being a very emotional melodious song about shattered dreams, unfulfilled hopes and true love, things that are not often heard from Nelly. The second single Move That Body is much more typical of him, it features T-Pain and Akon and is quite a frank and memorable number quite deserving to become a new club hit. Despite the presence of such a mogul as Diddy the track 1000 Stacks can be considered as a filler, but the third single Gone performed with Kelly Rowland is the continuation of their successful 2002’s duet Dilemma. Collaborations with Yo Gotti and Sophie Green (Broke) and with Keri Hilson (Liv Tonight) are also interesting, and the album closer is another love ballad Nothing Without Her, refined with keyboards, a rich beat and an electro guitar solo.

Self-admiration and vulnerability

Unlike many an artist striving for getting to the hit-parades tops by all means, recording albums actively inviting the most popular producers, Nelly who found his own niche in the hip-hop world a long time ago, just calmly keeps doing what he is used to do. His albums are all similar to each other – there are songs of praise to himself on them as well as the stories about his success with the opposite sex, about wealth and fame, though there are some vulnerable notes on them as well. This artist who seems to always be young and shining can be tough and gentle, cynical or easy to hurt, but he remains a real man able to express each of his qualities with the help of a song, and the record 5.0 illustrates the most intensive of them in the best way. The person behind these songs can be all the clubs’ welcome visitor, go to places meant only for the elite, shortly, live like a true VIP but he can also preserve his ability to love and suffer from losses. Perhaps Nelly will soon please us with some unexpected project, and now we can enjoy 5.0, an album deserving attention which is definitely not going to disappoint the self-sufficient performer’s fans.