Nelly Speaks On Radio Gig, 'Tip Drill', Lil Wayne's Early Cosign & Marriage (Pg. 3)
How did your stint as radio host in St. Louis come about?
That was something fun to do and maybe something I might even do again. My paychecks all went to charity, so it was for a great cause. And it’s something that’s never been done before by an artist of my stature to jump on a major radio station like that and become a host. The people loved it, the ratings were the highest ever.
Then of course you had people saying you fell off and had to do radio because…
That’s been my whole life! Whenever I do something that people aren’t not used to seeing they think it’s a failure or I’m falling off. No, idiots! It’s not dumb to be on the radio for a month when I have an album coming out. It’s called new wave thinking. It’s not like I needed the money, the check went to charity.
Also, a lot of folks forget you had Weezy on your debut album. Have you had a chance to visit him?
I haven’t gotten a chance to visit but hopefully he gets out faster than I can get to see him. Feel me? He knows if he needs anything, he can call on me. Cash Money is family.
He was one of the only outside features on your first project. How did Wayne even end up on Country Grammar?
Wayne was the only one that heard my music and agreed to be on my album. It wasn’t like when I did Country Grammar I didn’t reach out to big artists. I tried, I ain’t going to put anyone’s name out there. [Laughs] But it was one of those things of being a new artist, new place and new face.
While we’re talking about the past, honestly looking back now do you regret anything about the infamous "Tip Drill" video?
Of course not. I’m not bound by anything in terms of my freedom to create, who says everything you create has to be accepted by everyone? If I only did one thing, one way then I wouldn’t be an artist. Everything in the history of art and music wasn’t accepted at first. Not to say what I did wasn’t risqué, but it was needed at the time. All I did was entertain adult fans. It even came on an adult show at 3 a.m. It wasn’t like the girls in the video were offended by it. Never will I take any of that back. I didn’t make 10 of them. I made one video and people wanted to condemn me for it. And people wanted that video to outweigh all the other good things I’ve done. All my not-for-profit work, helping find marrow donors, community programs and take all that away from me. I was just young and having fun.
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Outside of music you’ve been very successful in the clothing world with your Apple Bottoms line and several acting roles. Are you focusing more on your talents outside of music now?
The past seven years have been unbelievable for Apple Bottoms. Thank you to all my fans. But yeah, I’m going to get more into the acting, so my agent will be happy, she’s been trying to push me into movies for the last five years. But for me I just wanted to make sure I could devote the time and effort that it takes. Music will always be my first passion, and I went through that time where I didn’t want to do shit, when I was thinking like what is this all for? But that time has passed, and I want to keep moving and striving. There’s new goals I’ve set for myself, I see things for myself that people aren’t doing and I think I may be able to fill.
You sound like your ready for the next phase in your life, so when are you going put a ring on Ashanti’s finger?
Man, I’m marrying Nelly 5.0 on November 16 [Laughs]. You want to come to the wedding, be my guest? Right now, I’m just focused, and like I tell everybody we’re friends, real good friends. She’s working on her project and I’m doing mine.
[Laughs] Alright, I hate to rehash this but do you have any last words or advice for one Kat Stacks?
When I got into this, and I said this before—sometimes you get people that are doing things and not thinking about the consequences and that’s troubling. A sane person thinks about the repercussions before they make a move. I confronted her on radio and she got exposed. The chick had nothing to say like if we were together for two months, she could have named at least one place we were together! But once I found out she was a psycho, and everything I stopped feeding into her. I just can’t believe that there are still people getting caught up with her. That shit is funny.
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