In the early 2000s, there were only a handful of rappers that were moving units. Jay-Z referenced that in his Excuse Me Miss track from the Blueprint 2 album. He said, only dudes moving units is Em, Pimp Juice and Us. Jay meant Eminem, Nelly and of course his label, the Roc. 20 years ago today, Nelly dropped his second album Nellyville. Nellyville is the follow-up to his Country Grammar debut that went on to sell over 10 million. Nellyville dropped almost two years to the date. Hot in Herre was the first single to drop off the new joint. The double platinum smash-hit was played all throughout the summer of 2002. Nelly released his second single on the same day Nellyville dropped and it was called Dilemma. Dilemma featured Kelly Rowland from Destiny’s Child. While it didn’t do as well on Hot in Herre on the charts it’s a classic.
Dilemma was another summertime smash that year and the video was dope also. Air Force Ones dropped in the fall of 2002 and it was another great track. Nelly released two more singles from Nellyville into 2003. The album went 7X platinum and continued his run as one of the biggest rappers in the game. Overall, this was a good album but I would give a slight nod to Country Grammar being better. During this time, Nelly was beefing with KRS-One and he went at the OG. Nelly dropped disses to him on the Roc the Mic Remix and #1. My top 5 tracks are #1, Dilemma, Roc the Mic (Remix), Air Force Ones and Hot in Herre. Check out the track listing and stream link to Nellyville below.
- Nellyville
- Gettin’ It Started ft. Cedric the Entertainer & La La
- Hot in Herre
- Dem Boyz ft. Kyjuan & Murphy Lee
- Oh Nelly ft. Murphy Lee
- Pimp Juice
- Air Force Ones ft. Kyjuan, Ali & Murphy Lee
- In the Store ft. Cedric the Entertainer & La La
- On the Grind ft. King Jacob
- Dilemma ft. Kelly Rowland
- Splurge
- Work It ft. Justin Timberlake
- Roc the Mic (Remix) ft. Beanie Sigel, Freeway, & Murphy Lee
- The Gank
- 5000
- #1
- CG 2 ft. Kyjuan & Murphy Lee
- Say Now
- Fuck It Then ft. Cedric the Entertainer & La La
