Woe Nelly

By Josh Tyrangiel

Most of what you need to know about Nelly's world view can be gleaned from listening to his 2000 breakout hit, Country Grammar: "You can find me, in St. Louis rollin' on dubs/Smokin' them dubs in clubs, blowin' up like cocoa puff." Nelly loves his hometown. Nelly loves pot. Nelly loves Nelly. It's a pretty narrow vision, but Nelly (real name: Cornell Haynes Jr.) moved 8 million copies of his debut album, and his follow-up, Nellyville (Universal), won't lag far behind. The secret is the twang. Nelly, like Snoop Dogg, raps in a Southern-inflected singsong so bouncy and joy-filled that he could read Cardinals box scores and the world would bob its collective head.

Nellyville (Nelly's ever-so-humble nickname for St. Louis, Mo.) provides little reason to think its creator is up to any more than that. Songs like Pimp Juice aren't about pimping; they just invoke the trope because, sadly, that's how lazy mainstream rap has got in 2002. Actually, the message of Pimp Juice is uplifting--"Your pimp juice is anything that attracts the opposite sex/It could be money, fame or straight intellect"--as long as you don't mind being compared to a flesh peddler. Ah, well. Sensitive types won't take much comfort from Hot in Herre, a summer single that culminates in everyone's taking off his or her clothes, or Work It, a provocative duet with 'N Sync's Justin Timberlake (yes, "it" is what you think it is). The production is passable; the rhymes are emptier than the St. Louis arch. Nellyville wants only to make you dance, and in that it succeeds. But if it's a single interesting thought you're after, it's best to keep on moving. --By Josh Tyrangiel