Sweat (Nelly album)

''Sweat'' is the third 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 Universal Records. Production was handled by several producers, including Jason "Jay E" Epperson, Midi Mafia, The Neptunes, Trife, Jazze Pha, Doe and the Alchemist. Released in conjunction with ''Suit'', Nelly intended to release a single album before conceptualizing and releasing two albums simultaneously, both 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".

Background

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 released singles accompanied by music videos from both albums. Talking to MTV News, Nelly described the differences between both albums; their titles of ''Sweat'' and ''Suit'' were announced on May 27, 2004. 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".

Release

''Sweat'' and ''Suit'' were intended to be released on August 17, 2004, but were pushed back and released on September 14 in the United States, Canada and Japan. ''Sweat'' was released on September 13, 2004 in the United Kingdom and Germany.

Commercial performance

In its opening week, ''Sweat'' debuted at number 2 on the US ''Billboard'' 200 chart, selling 342,000 copies. On the same day of ''Sweat'' release, Nelly's ''Suit'', released in conjunction with the former album, debuted at number one on the ''Billboard'' 200, selling 396,000 copies, becoming his third consecutive US number-one album following '' Country Grammar'' (2000) and '' Nellyville'' (2002). The combination of both album's opening figures of 737,000 surpasses that of ''Nellyville'', which debuted with 714,000 copies sold. With the debuts, Nelly became the first act to achieve the feat of obtaining album's number one and number 2 on the US Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums chart simultaneously. He is the second artist, following American hard rock band Guns N' Roses, to achieve the same feat, but on the ''Billboard'' 200 chart. Guns N' Roses attained the accomplishment in 1991 with '' Use Your Illusion II'' and '' Use Your Illusion I'', with the former debuting at number one and the latter at number 2, selling 770,000 and 685,000 copies, respectively.

The following week of ''Sweat'' release, it fell to number 4 on the ''Billboard'' 200 chart, selling 127,500 copies. In its third week, ''Sweat'' sold 80,000 copies, dropping to number 8. In the album's fourth week of release, its sales further decreased to 64,000 copies, falling to number 12. In its fifth week, ''Sweat'' again decreased, to 62,000 units, sustaining its position at number 12. The album's sales continued to decrease in its sixth week of release, selling 50,000 copies, moving to number 16 on the chart. On November 1, 2004, ''Sweat'' went on to be certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), denoting shipments of 1,000,000 copies.

Track listing

Sample credits

*"Heart of a Champion" – Contains a sample of "Roundball Rock" performed by John Tesh
*"Na Nana Na" – Contains a sample of "2 of Amerikaz Most Wanted" performed by 2Pac
*"American Dream" – Contains a sample of "Tired of Ballin'" performed by Tela
*"Tilt Ya Head Back" – Contains a sample of "Superfly" performed by Curtis Mayfield
*"Playa" – Contains a sample of "Magnetic Dance 2" performed by Lee Ryda

Personnel

Credits adapted from Allmusic. "Nelly – Sweat: Credits Allmusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved on June 28, 2013.

*Nelly – executive producer
*Jayson "Koko" Bridges – producer
*Andrew Coleman – engineer
*The Alchemist – producer
*Sandy Brummels – art direction
*Al Byno – engineer
*Jasper Cameron – producer
*Dirty Swift – producer
*Doe – producer
*Phillip Duckett – producer
*Michael Eleopoulos – assistant
*Jason "Jay E" Epperson – producer
*Loretta J. Galbreath – direction
*Chris Gehringer – mastering
*Harold Guy – assistant
*Jennifer Havey – A&R
*Tal Herzberg – engineer

*Jazze Pha – producer
*Jun Ishizeki – engineer
*Chip Karpells – assistant
*Kevin Law – A&R
*Marc Stephen Lee – engineer
*Jonathan Mannion – photography
*NDoffene MBodji – assistant
*Carl Nappa – engineer
*The Neptunes – producer
*Jared Nugent – assistant
*Dave Pensado – mixing
*Joe Spix – art direction, design
*T-Mix – producer
*Richard Travali – mixing
*Trife – keyboards, producer
*Bruce Waynne – producer
*James White – photography

Chart positions

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

External links

*
Sweat
' at Discogs (list of releases)

{{Authority control

2004 albums
Albums produced by the Alchemist (musician)
Albums produced by Jazze Pha
Nelly albums
Universal Records albums