Friday, October 21, 2005

Nelly Plays the Electric Company Game

Now a this is good (from billboard.com:

Nelly has rounded up 14 highlights from his simultaneously released 2004 albums "Sweat" and "Suit" plus a handful of new songs for the appropriately named "Sweatsuit." Due Nov. 22 via Universal, the set is led by the fresh cuts "Grilz" featuring Paul Wall and Ali & Gipp, "Tired" featuring Avery Storm and "Nasty Girl" featuring Diddy, the late Notorious B.I.G. and Jagged Edge.

A video for "Grilz" is expected to be shot in Atlanta in the coming weeks. The Jermaine Dupri-produced track spotlights the trend of rappers outfitting their mouths with "grill pieces," of which Wall has emerged as major proponent. Among the holdovers from "Sweat" and "Suit" are such hits as "Over and Over" featuring Tim McGraw and "My Place," which peaked at No. 3 and No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100, respectively.

..."Suit" and "Sweat" debuted in the top two slots of The Billboard 200 last October. They have sold 4.3 million copies combined in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
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There is tons to like here. The original names of the albums are awesome, obviously. Releasing two records at the same time is also wonderful. Rereleasing them together after already selling 4.3 million copies is even better. This is actually quite sound from a marketing standpoint. It is very much like the way catalog companies do business: They put out a catalog, see what sells and doesn't, gets rid of the stuff that doesn't and mixes in new stuff to replace it for the next version of the catalog. Well done, Nelly.

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