Serious rap fans have always considered Nelly to be a guilty pleasure at best and the walking embodiment of crossover-ambitious wackness at worst. “Country Grammar” may bang (especially the radio edit, which improves the chorus’s vocal cadence), but that can be terribly hard to remember when he’s recording cheesy midtempo ballads with Tim McGraw. If the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the name “Nelly” is superfluous facial Band-Aids, the second is probably early-aughts hip-hop at its most eagerly radio friendly.
As is the case with any artist courting the fickle and forgetfulness-prone mainstream, Nelly has to essentially launch a comeback campaign every time he releases an album, even if it’s only been a couple of years since the last one. His upcoming album, M.O. (his sixth, if you count 2004’s Sweat and Suit as a double album), is slated to be released in June, only two and a half years after his 5.0 album, which spawned the successful single “Just a Dream.” But he’s not leaving the possibility that any pop listeners have forgotten about him to chance.