After four years of musical inactivity, St. Louis’ first son, Cornell “Nelly” Haynes Jr. is back to lay claim to the party division of Hip-Hop, which has become a very busy conference in his absence.

With over 35 Million records sold to date, he’s hoping to add to that total with his fifth studio album, Brass Knuckles. Taking a page out of LL Cool J’s career move playbook, the man with the innovative sing-song hooks and catchy tunes abruptly dropped off the radar for a long period of time, only to return with a physique that would make the Greek God Heracles solicit Barry Bonds for a supply of Balco.

From there he hit the interview circuit reintroducing himself to the teen and tween crowd while wearing shirts that looked like they would bust at the seams at any given moment. Add in all those factors, and the part owner of the Charlotte Bobcats NBA franchise still might have the recipe for success.
 
Nelly went into feature frenzy on Brass Knuckles, donating an olive branch to every region of the country starting with ‘U Ain’t Him’ featuring Rick Ross. Over a track that sounds like it would be in Young Jeezy’s repertoire, Nelly fires at imaginary players, “I heard a lot of that I did this/I heard a lot of that I did that/but w hen he takes the stand, he points at his man/and says he did that.” It’s a light-skinned affair on “Hold Up” as it features T.I., and LL Cool J. Nelly decides to start things off as all three MC’s talk about their financial status; Nelly: “Maybe the problem is you’re thinkin’ too small/you n*ggas only wanna rap and that’s all/ya only goal is to buy out the mall/I go to buy me the mall.” T.I.: “I’m flossin’ at the red light/on chrome drop top candy red tight.” LL: “You know I’m in shape, I’ll slap you/then you try to sue me/I’ll buy you off, then slide off with your little cutie/all this money is a Goddamn nuisance/look at my career, yeah I’m the blue print.”

On The Big Bang, Busta Rhymes was on his ‘New York Sh*t,’ and on Brass Knuckles Nelly decides to take that format all the way to California on ‘LA’ featuring Snoop Dogg and Nate Dogg. Discussing his experience on the West Coast, Nelly makes sure not to forget those two initials in every line he drops, “Dodgin’ them n*ggas with that LA stress/see I’m a visitor, I’m a LA guess/I gotta be aware of how the LA dress/cause if it comes down, I might get LA stretched/I ain’t tryin’ to be a trophy on no LA desk.”

The mandatory female track features another exhibitionist of being half naked in Usher, as he comes in on ‘Long Night.’ The production is courtesy of JLack, which should garner him some attention, but the layout of the song isn’t too different from what you’re used to hearing from a MC and R&B singer combination. Nelly raps about all the naughty things he wants to do to a particular female, as Usher sings about it being…. That’s right! A long night! Nelly gets a little more serious on 'Self-Esteem', and that’s probably because Hip-Hop Political icon Chuck D is assisting him. Even so, Nelly still manages to drop some food for thought, “They say I’m old enough to go to war/but I ain’t old enough to play in the NBA no more/now you tell me what’s wrong with that/I pledge allegiance all the way to Iraq/but ain’t nobody pledging me when I get back/tell my Uncle Sam, he’s wrong for that.”

The head St. Lunatic graduated from stomping in his Air Force Ones just to get his Jordans stepped on by somebody else on ‘Stepped On My J’z’ featuring Jermaine Dupri and Ciara. Both sneaker enthusiasts rap about their beloved collection of footwear made famous by Mr. 23, and how they go into full panic mode whenever they’re stepped on.
 
The album contains 14 tracks, and ‘One And Only’ is the only song that Nelly takes on the whole freight by himself with no big names and without his crew. The song itself sounds like another version of ‘Dilemma,’ just without Kelly Rowland singing along in the background. One of the surprise songs on the album just might be ‘Chill’ featuring the entire St. Lunatics crew. Nelly’s vacation from the studio might have been a blessing in disguise for his underlings because their lyrical proficiency has gone up a very large amount with their leader now sounding like the odd man out.

Other songs like ‘Let It Go (Lil Mama)’ featuring Pharrell Williams, ‘Who F*cks With Me’ featuring Avery Storm, and ‘UCud GedIt’ featuring Gucci Mane and R. Kelly aren’t outstanding pieces of work, but they’ll end up on some DJ’s playlist regardless.
 
The album itself doesn’t possess the flare of Nelly’s previous efforts that literally spawned hit after hit after hit, but as the old saying goes, “You’ll never sell more than your first.” As for the production, it isn’t out of this world, but every song is radio friendly (even the ones where he tries to act tough). In the end, Brass Knuckles does mark a solid comeback for the man who puts the emphasis on his R’s, but it probably won’t have the long-lasting effect of his previous efforts.