Avg Rating: 
3.5 ( 23 total votes )
The last time I wrote about Nelly, for the underwhelming Brass Knuckles, the St. Louis vet was battling the worst case of Ashanti Syndrome we’d seen since, well, Ashanti. For those without my sterling medical credentials, an artist is diagnosed with Ashanti Syndrome when they’re enormously successful and then, for no discernible reason, the public tires of them and kicks them out of the spotlight. It’s a condition that struck Nelly so suddenly many have already forgotten that, for a time, he was one the highest selling artists in music. Period. And then the party … ...Read the full album review
Fans can also check out Nelly's previous albums: Nelly - Brass Knuckles
DJBooth Album Review
The last time I wrote about Nelly, for the underwhelming Brass Knuckles, the St. Louis vet was battling the worst case of Ashanti Syndrome we’d seen since, well, Ashanti. For those without my sterling medical credentials, an artist is diagnosed with Ashanti Syndrome when they’re enormously successful and then, for no discernible reason, the public tires of them and kicks them out of the spotlight. It’s a condition that struck Nelly so suddenly many have already forgotten that, for a time, he was one the highest selling artists in music. Period. And then the party stopped – to date Brass Knuckles had only sold 250,000 copies in the U.S., a disaster for a man who once moved 8 million copies of Country Grammar - and even he seemingly couldn’t figure out why.
Incredible, while Ashanti herself seems to still be afflicted, Nelly appears to have found the cure for Ashanti Syndrome on his new album, the somewhat confusingly titled 5.0 (nope, it’s actually his sixth album). And what is the magic elixir that has restored his health and status as an influential artist? Simple: pop. 5.0 is a veritable hip-pop blueprint. If this album were a country, it’d be Popistan, and its citizens would eat Pop Tarts while drinking soda… .you get the point. Largely gone are the drive by references of Country Grammar and the Tip Drill stripper anthems, replaced by sugary sweet records that find Nelly often sounding almost completely unrecognizable, which, depending on your perspective, is either a tragic shame or a welcome change. No matter your feelings, one thing about his submersion into the world of hip-pop isn’t up for debate – it’s made Nelly popular again. Pun intended.
Ask around. Everyone knows that if you need a crossover hit you call up Jim Jonsin, and sure enough the master craftsman put together Just a Dream, a light rock influenced single that has Nelly singing his heart out to a girl he mistakenly let walk away in a style much more Backstreet Boys than St. Lunatics. Ironically, by washing away his distinctive, Midwestern hip-hop style, Nelly emerged clean, sparkling and with a huge hit on his hands. 5.0 goes back to that well often, and it must be said successfully. Nothing Without Her is a piano ballad that few will easily recognize as Nelly; if it wasn’t on his album, I would never guess the heartbroken crooner was the same man who once proclaimed that it was Hot in Herre. Similarly, the more adult Making Movies does find Nelly doing some rapping, but along with Rico Love, mostly plays the pure R&B role. Hell, he even tried to recapture the Kelly Rowland-associated magic of Dilemma with Gone, although this time around it’s hard to tell who’s the singer, and who’s the rapper.
I’ll admit I may be going a little far in my description of 5.0 as a pop album. By contrast Flo Rida still makes him look like N.W.A., but even the more hip-hop oriented joints lack a real sense of danger, at least from Nelly himself. For the first two-thirds of its existence the silky Long Gone seems like it should belong to the category above, until Plies unexpectedly shows up to drop an expectedly goonish guest verse on the back end. Interestingly, it’s a formula that’s repeated again on Broke, a cut that at first blush is a pure club dance jam, until noted white-pusher Yo Gotti rasps and swags his way onto the stuttering beat. And I’m not going to say that if Biggie were still alive he’d be ashamed to have his voice appear on the Diddy-affiliated 1,000 Stacks, but…..
The one time 5.0 truly stikes a balance between rap and pop is on She’s So Fly, featuring T.I., who knows a few things himself about crossover hits, but on the whole, from the Euro club sounding Liv Tonight to the Usher-esque Don’t It Feel Good, 5.0 is only a hip-hop album in the loosest sense of the word. Nelly has always had mainstream sensibilities, but in 2010 he’s transformed himself into a finely tuned hip-pop machine, and in the process has reinvigorated, and in some sense reinvented, his career. Think about it like this: if you’re the kind of person who can’t get past the fundamental idea of plastic surgery, 5.0 will be hard to get close to. But if you don’t really care, as long as the end product looks good, Nelly’s latest will be looking pretty damn attractive. Don’t call it a comeback, he’s been here for years.
Listen to More: Nelly Written by Nathan S.
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Member Reviews and Ratings
Average Member Rating: Total Ratings: 23
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DJ Booth Member  Total Ratings: 206 |
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This is a dance-pop/contemporary R&B Nelly I've never seen/heard before. I really don't recognise him as the Country Grammar Nelly I fell in love with. But hey, it appeals to the mainstream radio.
The track with Keri Hilson has an insane beat! So does 'Don't it feel Good'. I enjoy the chill beat in the T.I. collab 'She's so Fly'. I kinda dig Nelly's singing voice actually (more than Flo Rida), although he kinda sounds like Akon or Usher now when he's doing so. 'Just a Dream' and 'Nothing without You' are my guilty pleasures. He actually has a decent non auto-tuned vocal talent. Overall, too pop (love the analogy, Nate) Nelly/less rap Nelly for my taste, but hey, I can't hate on the man for appealing to today's audience, and for earning his cheddar that way. |
| Posted on Nov 16, 2010 |
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Tastemaker  Total Ratings: 476 |
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Solid album. I wouldn't put it on par with Nelly's older stuff but it's a decent album in its own right.
Nathan, the album is called 5.0 because it's Nelly's 5th release date. Sweat and Suit were released at the same time (and were then combined into one album). It's a pretty awful title anyway but I figured I would help end your confusion. lol. |
| Posted on Nov 16, 2010 |
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DJ Booth Crew  Total Ratings: 2476 |
^ He's also said that the title relates to his favorite car, a 2011 Ford Mustang 5.0, which still makes it a a weird title for an album.
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| Posted on Nov 16, 2010 |
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Yea I also heard Nelly mention 5.0's were his favorite car wen he was growin up.
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| Posted on Nov 16, 2010 |
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Tastemaker  Total Ratings: 1805 |
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Great to hear from Nelly. My fav song on it is Just A Dream. Another great peice of work from Nelly.
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| Posted on Nov 16, 2010 |
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| Posted on Nov 17, 2010 |
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Tastemaker  Total Ratings: 637 |
Though I dont have a problem with nelly making this kind of music to appeal to the masses, I just don't like his singing voice on this record! The autotune he layers on is unnecessary - he isn't a singer so why try and be one? I think one of the reasons 'Dilemma' worked because he was singing but not trying overly hard to make it seem like he was in fact a good singer. On 'Gone' off this record, (which was hyped as Dilemma 2010) he does the opposite and as Nathan said it's hard to tell who's the singer and who's the rapper. Perhaps I'm making a big deal, but country grammar nelly > pop nelly any day
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| Posted on Nov 17, 2010 |
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Nelly go hard but he need 2 hit up summ old shit too cuz he used 2 kill it
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| Posted on Nov 17, 2010 |
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| Posted on Nov 17, 2010 |
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DJ Booth Crew  Total Ratings: 906 |
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This album is really pop, but its quality pop so I cant hate.
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| Posted on Nov 17, 2010 |
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| Posted on Nov 18, 2010 |
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DJ Booth Member  Total Ratings: 9 |
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@*#$! the haters this ryt here dirty is the shit
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| Posted on Nov 18, 2010 |
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You give nelly 5.0 a same rating to cudis new album?? why man? ill admit i like this album, its production is really well thought out but it isnt an album with consistent good tracks.
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| Posted on Nov 19, 2010 |
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| Posted on Nov 26, 2010 |
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not feeling this
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| Posted on Nov 30, 2010 |
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It's a decent album but it's hard to compare to Nelly's previous work. I really liked some of the tracks though.
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| Posted on Dec 13, 2010 |
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DJ Booth Member  Total Ratings: 399 |
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To Pop for me. its got some good songs though
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| Posted on Dec 26, 2010 |
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DJ Booth Member  Total Ratings: 48 |
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A solid album from Nelly.
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| Posted on Dec 29, 2010 |
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Yes indeed. 5.0 certanly is an overwhelmingly high dose of pop music. Thankfully, Nelly knows how to craft solid pop music. The album may be as cookie cutter as it gets, but at least its enjoyable.
One good thing about all of these pop songs is that they have a wide variety of settings and tones. He has club-pop with Move That Body and She's So Fly, as well as love-pop with a decent, but nowhere near as good as first collabo with Kelly Rowland in Gone. It also contains heartbroken-pop with songs like Just A Dream and Long Gone. However, Nelly did include a couple rap songs. Its just too bad hey weren't very good. 1000 stacks was ok, but I will pass on the rest. Overall, the pop portion conained many well done songs, which made the album a sold listen, but the rap songs were a poor man's Nelly. If even that. He only gets two stars from me on his musical abilities because he has proved he is capable of so much more, but gets four stars for creating an infetiously catchy and enjoyable (mostly) pop album. Fav songs: 1.Just A Dream 2.She's So Fly 3.Move That Body 4.Long Gone 5.1000 Stacks |
| Posted on Jan 05, 2011 |
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| Posted on Jan 16, 2011 |
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| Posted on Jan 19, 2011 |
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I WAS GOOD
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| Posted on Mar 29, 2011 |
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| Posted on Apr 15, 2011 |
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Let's be clear, this is not the album that Nelly needed to make a real come back. One song doesn't really pull a person back into the limelight for long enough to make a real difference. Hopefully Nelly hits the recording studio with ferver to get the next album out quick. That being said the album is overall very well constructed. Some of the songs did blow me away to the point where I wondered why they never hit the radio. 1000 Stacks, Long Gone, and She's So Fly hold this album together and make this my favorite overall efforts by Nelly to date. If it had just one more serious hit song that got everyone in the club singing it would be five star quality.
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| Posted on Aug 02, 2011 |
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| Posted on Sep 27, 2011 |
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| Posted on Feb 25, 2013 |
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