Nelly Comes to Town

Blizzard Music Tour 2011

By Jeannette Madden
Staff Writer

The Blizzard Music Tour blows into Scheels Arena for the second of ten shows around the Midwest and Pacific Northwest. Headlining is savvy pop and hip-hop star Nelly, whose current hit single “Just A Dream” off of his new album “5.0” soared to number one on iTunes’s Top Hip-Hop/Rap Songs chart and has become the best-selling digital single of Nelly’s career. The Grammy-winning, multiplatinum hip-hop superstar and entrepreneur spent some time with the Reader talking about his love for his fans and what it feels like to be on top…

High Plains Reader:  Where did you get the name Nelly?

Nelly:  Cornell, [Cornell Haynes, Jr.], Nell, they used to call my father Big Nell and they called me Little Nell and then I got the name Nelly.

HPR:  Can you give me some history about you and your career?

Nelly:  Well, you know I’m in a group called St. Lunatics and we’ve been rapping now for a long time. We’re in St. Louis, we started in St. Louis. Our first album we had a single locally called Gimme What Ya Got that did pretty well. My first album nationwide was Country Grammar followed by a bunch of other albums and a group album called Free City which is in honor of my little brother, who was locked up…we’ve been grinding ever since.

HPR:  How about your influences?

Nelly:  My influences are probably like anybody who have grown up in my time, you know, with the genre of hip hop like that, comes from both coasts, so to speak. Everybody from like Run DMC, LL Cool J, Biggie, all the way over to N.W.A., Ice T, Tupac, all the way down to the south, like Geto Boys and then in between all that you mix in like the Michael Jackson’s and the Prince’s [laughs].

HPR:  What inspires you and how do you get your ideas to write? What is your writing process?

Nelly:  I think what inspires you is the same as what everybody else’s: life. You know, things that you go through, things that you see, things that you’ve heard and things you might have gone through personally.

HPR:  Sure. How about “5.0,” your new album. What did you or what were you trying to accomplish with that album?

Nelly:  [Laughs] You just feel real fortunate. It’s been like eleven years and I’m still putting out albums so we just try to continue to spread music, to do things and to show the fans that have been showing us so much unbelievable support this continued success, you know?

HPR:  Who are your favorite artists or artists you collaborate with?

Nelly:  That depends. I really don’t mind collaborating with a whole lot of different people. As long as the music is hot I don’t have a problem collaborating with anybody. I think it’s all about the music. I’ve been real fortunate enough to have the fans that have supported me through a lot and a lot of the music I’ve been doing, a lot of collaborations I’ve been doing, that’s one of the things I kind of pride myself on; being musically free. Some artists would like to try things but it’s out of their league or some people are not going to accept it from them. My fans have made it so possible that I could pretty much collaborate with anybody as long as the song is hot.

HPR:  How did you get hooked up with the Blizzard tour?

Nelly: It was something that we thought would be good to hit certain markets that may not get a chance to see Nelly all the time or get a chance to see artists without them having to drive so far away to see a good concert. Even though those fans deserve the best a lot of times they need to understand that it is a business and it’s hard to put that great of a show on because it costs. It cost a lot of money for big artists to come to those cities and put a lot on so sometimes they’d rather not come to those areas and charge fans astronomical prices to try to do it. But we just wanted to come out and touch bases a little bit and it’s not about the money right now on The Blizzard Tour; it’s about coming out and connecting with those fans that have been supporting you and to say thank you so much.

HPR:  What can the fans expect from your show?

Nelly:  There’s a lot of energy. We like to come out, we like to have a good time. It’s all about fun out there on the stage, crowd participation is definitely encouraged [laughs]. You know what I’m saying? The crazier the guys get out there in the audience the crazier we get on stage so it’s a beautiful thing. It kind of works hand in hand.

HPR:  I saw you on David Letterman doing Just A Dream and did you ever imagine that you were going to be on David Letterman or doing the things that you’re doing now? You know, like big hits off of every album? You sound so confident you probably did, but is it like what you thought it would be?

Nelly:  It’s that and more, good and bad. It’s not the easiest thing being successful. It’s some of the most rewarding but it’s not the easiest. If it was the easiest, who doesn’t want to be successful? It’s a lot of sacrifices, a lot of hard work, a lot of decisions made down the line that some people can’t make. Some people choose to do things a different way and it is a lot of sacrifice. Some of the simplicities you kind of give up to do certain things that so many people take for granted that we look at and it’s like wow [laughs]. It’s a cool thing. It’s nothing that you would change and I don’t think anyones complaining about it. It’s just one of those things that you look back after you get a chance to be on things like Letterman and you get a chance to do the Super Bowl and you win Grammys and tour around the world and things like that and it’s crazy.

HPR:  I have to ask you this and I imagine I’m not the only one but in Ride Wit Me you talk about sitting next to Vanna White in first class…did you really sit next to Vanna White?

Nelly:  [Laughs] Did I really sit next to Vanna White? I think that was Vanna White, I think that was her.

HPR:  I was watching the Country Grammar video tonight before we started talking and was that video as much fun to make as it looked?

Nelly:  Yeah, that one was definitely fun to make. The video was very instrumental in St. Louis fans and things of that nature so shooting that video was unbelievable.

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IF YOU GO:
What: Blizzard Music Tour featuring Nelly, 3OH!3, Sick Puppies, Cali Swag District, DJ Dextrous and Big Reeno
Where: Scheel’s Arena
When: Thursday, March 3, 6 p.m.
Info: http://blizzardmusictour.com/