Brass Knucklesis the fifthstudio albumby American rapperNelly,released on September 16, 2008, after several delays. In 2008 Nelly embarked onThe Brass Knuckles Tourin support of the album.
Production was set to come fromBryan-Michael Cox,Neff-U andPharrell,among others.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]Nelly mentioned in an interview that producerPolow da Donproduced tracks for the album.[9]On March 30, Nelly told HipHopDX.com that "the album would feature a handful of new producers."[10]Nelly was set to collaborate with Springsteen but he stated he was hopeful to collaborate with him on a future album, or even a repackage ofBrass Knuckles.[citation needed]Dupri gave a look into the two collaborations, one being Nelly, Carey and Jackson all appearing on the same track, in which he stated Nelly has laid the following blueprint.[11]
Nelly's got a crazy collaboration he's trying to put together, which is him, Janet and Mariah Carey all on one song... That's what he wants. If he could convince them to do it, it would be crazy. [He] wants [Janet] to rap a 16-bar verse, he wants [Mariah] to sing the hook and he's gonna do two verses. [He] has it all planned out. You ask him about it! This is what he wants; he's 100-percent deadlocked into it.
I think he's doing a record with Bruce Springsteen. You know he always has to do one of those! My two records [that J.D. has produced for Nelly so far], he's gonna have some people on them—I won't tell it yet. I don't want to jinx the record.
The first single was believed to be "Cut It Out" which features rappersPimp CandSean PofYoungBloodZ,but was later confirmed to be "Wadsyaname",which was released digitally on August 21, 2007. However, because of the pushed release dates from October 16, 2007 and on, the first official single was changed to"Party People",which featuresFergie.It was released on March 18, 2008 and peaked at number forty on the USBillboardHot 100and number fourteen on theUK Singles Chart.The album's second single "Body on Me",which featuresAkonandAshanti,was released on June 9, 2008. It peaked at number forty-two on the USBillboardHot 100 and number three on the UK Singles Chart. Just two days later, "Stepped on My J'z",which featuresCiaraandJermaine Dupriwas released on June 11, 2008. It peaked at number ninety on the USBillboardHot 100. After several single releases amid delays, accompanied by noticeable anticipation, the full Brass Knuckles album was released in September of 2008.
Reviews for the album were generally mixed. Pharoh Martin ofVibestated that "Brass Knucklesis standard Nelly fare. "[15]RapReviews wrote that "underneath the materialistic veneer Nelly's got a good delivery, sharp lyrics and impeccable breath control."[13]
Brass Knucklesdebuted at number 3 on theBillboard200,selling 83,717 copies in its first week in the United States. Only 8-weeks later, the album was left on theBillboard200 chart. On March 21, 2009, the album re-appeared at number 152. On December 12, 2008, the album was certified gold by theRecording Industry Association of America(RIAA) for shipping over 500,000 copies in the United States.[16]As of September 2010, the album has sold over 223,000 copies in the United States.[17]
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