2004 has been a very US-centric, hip-hop-&B sounding year on the British charts. An Usher double, the dreaded Frankee & Eamon, Mario Winans… Now here’s another slow-jam from Nelly.
My Place / Flap Your Wings, by Nelly (his 2nd of four #1s)
1 week, from 5th – 12th September 2004
This double-A passed me by at the time, despite being in a fairly avid chart-watching phase in my life. I was about to start my second year at university the week this was at #1, so maybe my mind was elsewhere. But listening to it now, I like it. I like the smooth old-school soul of ‘My Place’, and the futuristic beats on ‘Flap Your Wings’, and would label it as one of the better of this year’s American number ones.
‘My Place’ enjoys the benefit of having three different samples from the late-seventies and early-eighties – Labelle, DeBarge, and Teddy Pendergrass – all of which give it an upbeat, soulful, disco-tinged feel. It doesn’t grab me with a killer hook, but it is a perfectly pleasant way to spend four and a half minutes. At least it isn’t mopey and self-pitying, like many of the year’s other R&B hits, while the chorus is delivered very smoothly by a sadly uncredited Jaheim.
The beat and Nelly’s half-sung/half-rapped delivery are very similar to his first chart-topper, ‘Dilemma’, but not so similar as to make it feel like a cynical retread. And that was a gigantic hit, so it’s understandable that he was tempted to revisit it. Speaking of retreads…
‘Flap Your Wings’ meanwhile harks back to Nelly’s 2002 #3 hit ‘Hot in Herre’, not so much in the sound as in the tempo, the beat, and the meter of his delivery. And in the lyrics about sweat drippin’ all over your body… It’s not as catchy, or as memorable, as ‘Hot in Herre’, but there’s definitely something there in the repetitive beat and the saucy lyrics. At least I think Drop down and get your eagle on girl… must be somehow dirty.
It was produced by the Neptunes, with Pharrell Williams popping up for one line mid-song. This was the first UK #1 credit enjoyed by an act responsible for dictating how much of the decade’s hip-hop and R&B would sound, with Williams a decade away from the trio of million-selling hits he’d enjoy in 2013-14. However, I would say that this song also feels like a warm-up for their era-defining turn on Snoop Dogg’s ‘Drop It Like It’s Hot’, an even more minimalist hip-hop hit that would chart a few weeks later.
Both these tracks came from Nelly’s double-album ‘Sweat / Suit’ – I’ll leave it to you to guess which song is from which side – and had been released with ‘Flap Your Wings’ as the lead single a month earlier, making #88. Once the order was switched it entered at the top, and became the only truly solo #1 from Nelly’s four chart-toppers.
The UK Number Ones Blog 
Jaheim is credited on Spotify now, so there’s some justice. I like this one.
This only scraped to 63 in my charts of the time, so not exactly that impressed by the double A, but replaying them My Place is actually quite nice. Nothing groundbreaking and it would sound better in a 1990’s setting, but enjoyable. Flap Your Wings sounds naughty, has a bit more liveliness about it and I’d also agree it’s not quite as good as Hot In Herre, but lyrically I cant imagine most current rappers using words like glutinous maximus in a lyric, so bonus points for that.
Nelly’s a hard one for me to place down. He dresses and postures like a gangsta rapper, but his music is generally quite smooth R&B/pop rap. It’s like 2Pac’s most R&B/crossover pop songs but if he made a whole career about of it. Despite the massive hits he had in the 2000s that are still hugely popular, he doesn’t seem that discussed nowadays as an artist. His songs definitely outshine him as an artist and person. I dunno how he fits into the conversation when it comes to the past and present stars of hip hop.
“My Place” got to #1 here in Australia. I’ve been listening to a lot of 70s soul/R&B/disco recently so definitely recognise the 70s soul/R&B samples. It’s okay, but honestly I find it quite forgettable. Even while listening to it I knew it wasn’t anything special, and sure enough, while writing this as I listen to the song for the second time and it ends, I can’t really remember how it goes.
“Flap Your Wings” is definitely the more rap-focused song of the double A-side. I like it a little better. It’s a bit more memorable and ear-catching, though yeah, definitely agree it’s a inferior retread of “Hot in Herre” which is a stonecold classic.
Yeah he isn’t as well remembered or regarded as some of the other late 90s-early 00s rappers, and yet he was a consistent hit maker for five years or more. More hits than many bigger names in hip-hop.