Suit is the fourth studio album by American rapper Nelly. It was intended to be released on August 17, 2004, before being delayed and released on September 13, 2004, by his label Derrty Entertainemt, Fo' Reel Entertainment, and Universal Records. Production for the album was handled by several producers, including the Neptunes, Jazze Pha, Doe, AHM, Jayson "Koko" Bridges, Kuya Productions, Soulshock and Karlin, Ryan Bowser, Big Boi and Beat Bullies. Released in conjunction with Sweat, Nelly intended to release a single album before conceptualizing and releasing two albums simultaneously, both of which would contrast each other's themes. Nelly characterized Sweat as "more up-tempo" and "energetic" while describing Suit as more of "a grown-up and sexy vibe [...] it's more melodic".
The album produced three singles: "My Place", "Over and Over" and "'N' Dey Say". Its lead single, "My Place", was a commercial success, topping the New Zealand, Australian and UK single charts, becoming Nelly's second number one on the former and latter charts. It peaked at number four on the US Billboard Hot 100. "Over and Over" featuring country singer Tim McGraw was also a success, peaking at number three on the Hot 100, and topping several charts worldwide, including the Irish, Australian and UK Singles Charts. "My Place" and "Over and Over" were certified gold and platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), for shipments of 500,000 and one million copies, respectively. Suit final single, "'N' Dey Say", achieved moderate chart success, peaking at number sixty-four on the Hot 100 and number six on the UK Singles Chart.
Suit was generally well received by music critics, who compared it with Sweat, praising both album's contrasting themes and musical content, though with some criticism also targeted towards their content, in regards to inconsistencies. Suit topped the US Billboard 200 chart in its opening week, selling 396,000 copies, becoming Nelly's third consecutive US number-one album. It went on to be certified three times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), for shipments of three million copies. The album was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rap Album at the 47th Grammy Awards, losing to Kanye West's The College Dropout.
Background
thumb|200px|right|[[Country music|Country singer Tim McGraw contributes vocals on "Over and Over".]]
While recording material for his third studio album, Nelly had his intention of producing one album. Songs were being recorded at a steady pace, with Nelly composing more ideas, to which he established the idea of two albums released simultaneously to house all the tracks. On April 27, 2004, Nelly's representative initially described the upcoming albums as thematically dissimilar, "one is more melodic and party-oriented in the vein of records like "E.I." and "Tip Drill", while the other was described as having a "harder edge". Nelly would release singles accompanied by music videos from both albums. He noted Sweat as "more up-tempo" and "energetic", while characterizing Suit as more of "a grown-up and sexy vibe [...] it's more melodic". Suit was released on September 13, 2004 in the United Kingdom and Germany.
Composition
The lead single "My Place" interlopes composition from "Isn't It a Shame" by girl group Labelle and Randy DeBarge's 1982 "I Like It". with guitars, that combines Nelly’s sedate side with Tim McGraw’s "twanging" guitar and vocals, It written by Nelly, Eldra DeBarge, Etterlene Jordan, Kenneth Gamble, Leon Huff, Randy Edelman, William DeBarge, Jaheim Hoagland, Dorian Moore and produced by Doe. The song topped both the New Zealand and Australian singles charts, The song became his second number one on the UK Singles Chart on the week of September 11, 2004, again following "Dilemma". "My Place" was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and Recorded Music NZ, for shipments of 500,000 and 7,500 units, respectively. It was certified platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA), for shipments of 70,000 copies.
"Over and Over" featuring country singer Tim McGraw was released as the second single on October 12, 2004. It was written by Nelly, Jayson "KoKo" Bridges, James D. Hargrove and Samuel McGraw and produced by Bridges. The song achieved commercial success, topping several charts, including the Irish Singles Chart, Australian Singles Chart and UK Singles Chart. and stayed atop in the UK for one week. New Zealand Singles Chart and Australian Singles Chart.
| rev2 = Blender
| rev2score =
| rev3 = Entertainment Weekly
| rev3Score = A−
| rev4 = The Guardian
| rev4Score =
| rev5 = Los Angeles Times
| rev5score =
| rev6 = NME
| rev6Score = 1/10
| rev7 = RapReviews
| rev7Score = 9/10
| rev8 = Rolling Stone
| rev8Score =
| rev9 = Stylus Magazine
| rev9Score = D+
| rev10 = Vibe
| rev10score =
Suit received generally mixed reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has received an average score of 62, based on 16 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews". Giving the album an A−, Entertainment Weekly David Browne lauded Suit, writing that Nelly "sounds convincing and appealing" throughout the album. Browne went on to further praise specific songs including the "summer-breezy" "Play it Off" and the "cozy hip-hop soul" housed "In My Life". King noted some songs to "crumble" due to their "simplistic approach", while tracks like "Flap Your Wings" as "addictive". losing to Kanye West's The College Dropout.
Commercial performance
In its opening week, Suit debuted atop the US Billboard 200 chart, selling 396,000 copies, becoming Nelly's third consecutive US number-one album following Country Grammar (2000) and Nellyville (2002). On the same day of Suit release, Nelly's Sweat, released in conjunction with the former album, debuted at number 2 on the Billboard 200, selling 342,000 copies. In its third week, Suit sold 118,000 copies, dropping to number 5. In the album's fourth week of release, its sales increased to 122,000 copies, the only album of the week to have its sales rise; it sustained its position at number 5. In its fifth week, Suit sales further increased to 144,000 units, gaining the title of Greatest Gainer, and rising from number 5 to number 3 on the chart. The album's sales continued to increase in its sixth week of release, selling 153,000 copies, moving from number 3 to number 2. It had passed one million copies in sales in the US that week. On November 1, 2004, Suit went on to be certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), denoting shipments of 500,000 copies. On January 19, 2005, the album was certified three times platinum by the RIAA, for shipments of three million copies.
On the Canadian Albums Chart, Suit debuted at number one, becoming Nelly's first album to top the chart in the country.
- "My Place" contains a portion of composition from "Isn't It a Shame" by girl group Labelle and Randy DeBarge's 1982 "I Like It". It samples elements of the Del-Vikings' 1957 "Come Go with Me".
- "'N' Dey Say" samples Spandau Ballet’s 1983 "True".
Personnel
Credits adapted from AllMusic.
- Ahm – producer
- Avery Storm – main personnel, primary artist, vocoder
- The Beat Bullies – producer
- Big Boi – producer
- Matt Brauss – bass
- Jayson Bridges – drums, keyboards, percussion, producer
- Sandy Brummels – art direction
- Chris Carmouche – engineer
- Andrew Coleman – audio engineer, engineer
- Jermaine Dupri – producer
- Michael Eleopoulos – assistant
- Brian Frye – engineer
- Richard "Rip" Gager – guitar
- Earl Gaynor – producer
- Chris Gehringer – mastering
- Robert Gerongco – producer
- Sam Gerongco – producer
- Anthony Hamilton – guest artist, main personnel, primary artist, vocals
- James D. "Sted Fast" II Hargrove – guitar, producer
- John Horesco IV – assistant
- Ronald Isley – main personnel, primary artist, vocals
- Jaheim – guest artist, main personnel, primary artist, rap
- Jazze Pha – audio production, main personnel, primary artist, producer, rap, various instruments
- Kim Moore Johnson – vocals (background)
- Rajinder Kala – congas
- Karlin – producer
- Chip Karpells – assistant, assistant engineer, mixing assistant
- Debra Killings – bass
- Kuya Brothers – producer
- Kevin Law – engineer
- Bryan Loss – drums
- LROC – producer
- Dan "Thunda Dan" Marshal – engineer, guitar
- Mase – guest artist, main personnel, primary artist, rap
- Brandon "B Don" Matthews – engineer
- Tim McGraw – guest artist, main personnel, primary artist, vocals
- Tadd Mingo – assistant
- Carl Nappa – audio engineer, engineer
- Nelly – executive producer, main personnel, primary artist, rap
- The Neptunes – audio production, producer
- Jared Nugent – assistant, assistant engineer
- Onion – guitar
- Shorty B. – bass, guitar
- Snoop Dogg – guest artist, main personnel, primary artist, rap
- Soulshock – producer
- Joe Spix – art direction, design
- T.I. – guest artist, main personnel, primary artist, rap
- Phil Tan – mixing
- Richard Travali – mixing
- Serge Tsai – engineer
- James White – photography
- Pharrell Williams – main personnel, primary artist, vocals
Charts
Weekly charts
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! scope="row"| Australian Urban Albums (ARIA)
|align="center"|2
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! scope="row"|Canadian R&B Albums (Nielsen SoundScan)
|style="text-align:center;"|1
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!scope="row"|Japanese Albums (Oricon)
|align="center"|28
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!scope="row"|South African Albums (RISA)
| style="text-align:center;"| 8
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Year-end charts
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|+2004 year-end chart performance for Suit
! Chart (2004)
! Position
|-
! scope="row"| UK Albums (OCC)
| 167
|-
! scope="row"| US Billboard 200
| 39
|-
! scope="row"| US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard)
| 30
|-
! scope="row"|Worldwide Albums (IFPI)
|style="text-align:center;"|16
|}
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|+2005 year-end chart performance for Suit
! Chart (2005)
! Position
|-
! scope="row"| US Billboard 200
| 33
|-
! scope="row"| US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard)
| 31
|}
Certifications
Release history
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders"
|+Release history and formats for Suit
! Country
! Date
! Format(s)
! Label
! Edition(s)
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! scope="row"| United Kingdom