S. Samuel
St. Lunatics' leader Nelly has come forward to finally put an end to a public dispute between him and ex-member Slo Down.
According to Nelly, Slo Down never paid his dues while a part of the group and joined his rap crew after their early struggles.
“Well first of all, the St. Lunatics were together way before Slo Down,” Nelly said in an interview. “You see what I’m saying? That’s what people don’t understand. We were way before Slo Down. By the time we met Slo Down, we almost had a deal with Universal. You see what I’m saying? People need to know the history because you do get some people [saying], ‘Oh, how could you do him like that?’ Well, let me give you the history. St. Lunatics have been together since ’93 — we probably got up around Slo Down around ’97…When it stops becoming an opportunity and you start relying on someone to help you make something of yourself, now here you have a situation to where you had someone in a group — they didn’t write music, that wouldn’t even come to the studio to hear the music getting made, you wouldn’t hang out in there — and you made a substantial amount of money, which is unbelievable, to basically be on-stage for an hour and not rap a word…Ain’t nobody bought a ticket to see this man at a show, ain’t nobody bought a CD to hear this man say words that he didn’t even say, it’s not even rap, ain’t nobody bought Apple Bottom line because of him — you didn’t even sell the mask…” (Music Choice)
Last month, Nelly also hit up Twitter to defend himself.
“I wish I could have made ova a half a mill dollars for just wearing a mask on stage!!!!!loldammm,” he wrote earlier this week.
“hate ungratefulness pimp!u don’t write!don’t rap!!u don’t even stay in the studio till the song is done!still make a halfmil” (Nelly’s Twitter)
Slo claimed Nelly received half of all St. Lunatics’ profits and did not look out for him.
“I might f*ck around and get emotional talkin’ about all how that money was getting’ split up, sh*t was crazy,” he said. “N*ggas was eatin’ and I wasn’t one of them n*ggas. I was snackin’… I was lunchin’, havin’ lunch every now and then, and n*ggas was havin’ four course meals and ain’t have sh*t to do with sh*t…Whatever we did Nelly got half of that sh*t, and the rest of the group split that up…And when it came to splitting the money I wasn’t part of the rest of the group…I ain’t write no lyrics or nuthin but…I brought more to the stage show, [and] to the image.” (XXL Mag)
Slo reportedly linked with St. Lunatics in the mid-1990’s.
Having been friends and family for years the group formed collectively in 1993. The roster, which has been consistent since the group’s inception, consists of Ali, Nelly, City Spud, Kyjuan and Murphy Lee. The group dubbed itself the St. Lunatics and began crafting the unique sound that would place St. Louis on hip-hop’s world map. By 1996 the crew was ready to debut its new sound. The group picked up hypeman Slo’ Down to add a visual element to the act, and hit the studio to record the single “Gimme What Ya Got.” (Hip Online)
Check out Nelly’s interview below:
