Album Review: Country Grammar

Nelly is the first rap artist I listened to and this was the first album I listened to from him. Nelly started making music in 1993 and signed to Universal Records in 1999. Under Universal, Nelly began his solo career in the year 2000, with his debut album Country Grammar, of which the featured title-track and the single “Ride wit Me” were top ten hits.

“Greed Hate Envy” talks about the way people feel about his success, and in one of the verses, Nelly even talks about a police officer pulling him over because he’s in an expensive car. This also relates to racism back in 2000 because if it was a person of lighter complexion the police officer probably wouldn’t have cared but Nelly was in this situation because he had a very nice car and he was of Darker complexion.

“Tho Dem Wraps” is a song talking about money. My favorite line on the song is “I gotta make a million gotta get myself a million gonna turn that into a billion If not, then I just won’t die.” Which shows his dedication to making music and being successful. I relate to this because I’m kind of the same way when it comes to football or school work, I’m going to keep trying and if I fail I’ll try again until I get it.

“Utha Slide” Is a song where Nelly talks to his son, telling him there are other ways of getting money than just selling drugs. In one of the lines, he says “ain’t tryin’ to sell your dreams, just trying to show you, that’s it’s other ways to getting cream.” He’s telling his son to hear him so that he doesn’t have to sell drugs to make money, just go to school, keep it real with yourself and watch it blow up.

“St Louie” is a bit of a turn-up song, for when I want to go crazy and just blast some music. In the song, Nelly talks about St. Louis where he’s from, and how hard it was growing up there. My favorite line in the song is “Don’t be provoking’ us It ain’t no joke in us.” He says this because where he’s from people can be dangerous and they could put someone in a bad situation.

“Luven Me” Is a song where Nelly apologizes to his mom for all the stress that he caused. My favorite verse of the song is “Ungrateful, complaining’ about Nike and Polo signs But you always come through, and what do I wreck both your cars, stole money from your drawers sold dope out your yard, stayed into with them laws Trying’ to pay you back for all the stress that I caused and always be there to give you whatever you want.” I relate to this line a lot because I realize how much stress I have caused my mom and hopefully one day I’ll be able to do something for her to relieve all of their stress.