Nellyville

Japanese reissue of the rapper's hit 2002 album includes a bonus disc with ten tracks, 'Stick Out Ya Wrist' feat. Toya, 'Kings Highway', 'Put Your Hands Up', 'Hot In Herre' (X-Ecutioners Remix), 'Dilemma' (Jason Nevins Hard Step Mix), 'Hot In Herre' (Vide

When your debut album scans 8x platinum, why mess with the formula? That's what Nelly must have been thinking on Nellyville, as he virtually carbon-copies the Country Grammar template on his follow-up. This time around, though, unusually large chunks of his rhyme schemes are fixated on tales of his rise from rags-to-bitches. On tracks like "Work It" (which sadly features Justin Timberlake of toy band 'N Sync) and the title track, hip-hop's materialistic excess hits a fever pitch. Still, "bling, bling" never sounded so good over St. Lunatics in-house producer Jay E's beats.

Nelly takes his down-home St. Louis rap cadence to, er, identical heights on "Country Grammar II," one of the many similar-sounding sequels to original chart blazers "Country Grammar" and "E.I." The anthemic "Hot in Herre," whose hook implores hotties to get undressed over a poppy Neptunes beat, is the 2002 version of "Ride wit Me." Nelly even pulls a Q-Tip routine, mutating his already singsong delivery into full-on balladeering on "The Gank" and "Pimp Juice," with mixed results. KRS-One has called for a boycott of this album because he's decided Nelly has no respect for hip-hop elders, and, well, maybe he's right. But that won't stop this St. Lunatic from taking his fresh approach to commercial hip-hop to the nearest Chase Manhattan. --Dalton Higgins