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Nelly has released his seventh full-length studio album, M.O, which is a project that he feels is his best to date.
“The vibe is very diverse, my fans have allowed me to express myself in various different ways and that spills over into my music,” the Grammy Award-winning rapper tells ABC News Radio. “It’s innovative, I like to think that we’re ahead of the curve with the sound.”
He adds, “I like to think we took a lot of chances, a lot of risks and I had a great chance working with a lot of great people.”
The track list for the set reads like an all-star lineup, boasting collaborations with artists like T.I., Future, 2 Chainz, Nelly Furtado, Trey Songz and country duo Florida Georgia Line, as well as production from Detail, Rico Love, DJ Frank E and others. Nelly explains that picking each guest feature for his album is similar to casting a movie.
“You try to imagine who can add something to the song, because obviously if you’re doing a song, you don’t want anybody on there that can’t add to the mission, so to speak, and all of these are well adjusted in what it is that they do and bring a certain flavor to each song,” he says.
The rap star also reveals how his summer smash, “Get Like Me” featuring Nicki Minaj and Pharrell Williams, came together.
“Pharrell is like a brother of mine, he’s been apart of Nelly’s career since his second album, since obviously Nellyville with ‘Hot in Herre’ and we continued on making great songs and great music,” he says. “And getting Nicki on there, this was my first time ever working with her.”
Nelly gushed over what Nicki Minaj has manged to achieve as a female emcee. He says she is “one of the few people, I feel of this generation, that has what we call the full 360.” The rapper feels Minaj has “the music, she has the look, she has the star power and she has the charisma. And in this day in age, it’s hard to find those, everything is so microwave, so now, and so forgotten, and to get her on there, she added a tremendous amount to that record.”
So was the Young Money fem-cee was a fan of his before she became famous? “Maybe not that day,” Nelly laughs, “But she’s definitely, I think she definitely appreciated what Nelly had been doing over the course of his career, definitely.”
M.O. is in stores now. In addition, Nelly will perform on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on Friday, October 4.
Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio
