Overview
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". The track "Another One" was allegedly a diss at fellow St. Louis rapper Chingy after the two had begun a publicized feud in the media. 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
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