Song #920: "Grillz" by Nelly (featuring Paul Wall and Ali & Gipp)

Date: Jan 21, 2006
Weeks: 2

I can easily imagine where grills originated and how they became a fad. Somebody, faced with the embarrassing prospect of getting adult braces, had way too much ego wrapped up in being cool, and way too much disposable income. They figured that if they put some bright decorations on their braces and refused to be embarrassed, they could own it and stay cool. Fellow nerds take note, the ability to own your uncoolness and turn it into a trend is what separates us from the truly cool.

It's easy to imagine how it spiraled from there. People who needed braces wanted the fancy and cool braces. Then people who didn't need braces wanted them anyway, and the trend culminated in this rap song at the top of the charts.

It's one thing to make a pop song that captures and promotes a cultural trend, like a dance or a fashion. But this song's intent is made clear in one particular line: "Call me George Foreman 'cause I'm selling everybody grillz." Yep, the song is upfront about it: it's an ad campaign designed to sell a product. In fact, the rapper of this particular lyric, Paul Wall, apparently owns a fairly significant grill business. This is starting to feel like a local business owner making a TV commercial rap about his products, but with higher production values and better talent.

The backing track to a lot of rap music is usually pretty minimal, but that doesn't mean it can't be entertaining. I'm a sucker for songs that use a good sample for a backing track. My favorite rap song is "O.P.P." by Naughty by Nature, entirely because of their excellent sampling of "ABC" by the Jackson Five (#233). But this song features a repetitive series of synthesizer tones and drum taps. It's not the worst backing track I've ever heard, but it's not very good either.

The vocals aren't bad. Nelly and his guests don't have unpleasant voices, and they generate a pleasant rhythm. The woman singing the chorus, Brandi Williams (who isn't credited as a featured artist despite carrying the chorus), does all right in a role that could easily come off whiny or obnoxious. The singing and rapping is the best part of the song. Any of these people could easily make a decent song if they just focused their efforts on another topic and found better music to back it up.

My verdict: Don't like it. "You see my grandmama hate it." And so do I.