In news that bodes ill for rappers who aren't very good, pop-rap bozo Nelly's latest album, Brass Knuckles, bombed big-time in its first week. According to a story on SOHH, the once-huge rapper's newest sold a paltry forty-three thousand copies, less than half what G-Unit's terrible new album sold when it belly-flopped a few months ago. These are grim times indeed for clothing-averse rappers coasting on early success and a few big singles. Nelly is reportedly so despondent over the news that he's taken to wearing a shirt. Nelly used to be a sure thing commercially, but in today's grim major label hip hop landscape, previously platinum rappers can't take big first weeks for granted anymore.
A number of rationales have been proposed for the disc's floppage: downloading, a weak market, the recession and, of course, the fact that Nelly kind of sucks and always has.