Nelly Wants His Rap Stripes Back, “I’m Urban, So You Can’t Run From That Fact”

Written By S. Samuel

Grammy-winning rapper Nelly has lashed back at haters claiming his success as a hip-hop and pop artist has tarnished his overall image as an urban emcee.

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Nelly said despite what critics may label him, they cannot shake off his hip-hop credentials.

“At the end of the day, I am urban, so you can’t run from that fact,” Nelly said in an interview. “At the end of the day, it’s another successful brother, stepping and breaking ground for the next brother to come along and do it…You do what works for you — I think you’d be an idiot to not do what works for you. They don’t want me to be smart about it? They wanna see another dumb brother not succeeding because he tried to do something that wasn’t smart? That’s what they say about us: We don’t think first. Well, this brother thinking first. I plan on being here.” (MTV)

Back around the release of his 2000 debut, Country Grammar, Nelly had made headlines for going at Eminem.

“[Me and Em, it was] a misunderstanding. Me being young in the game. Somebody said something that said something, and I reacted to it. Being young to the game and being real influential, and not checking to see if that’s what it was – which it wasn’t. But me, being from St. Louis. Hothead. Young kid. I got kicked out of four schools for fighting. I was just like [to Eminem], ‘What? Who? What’chu talking about?’ Coming in at that time with Country Grammar, you’re getting a lot of [beef], you know what I’m saying? But what people don’t understand is that when I made Country Grammar, that sh*t was gangster! I was coming ‘down down, baby/Your street in a Range Rover/With a street sweeper, baby/Cocked, ready to let it go.’ You know what I’m saying? I didn’t change that record. The label changed that record to ‘boom boom/ahn ahn.'” (All Hip Hop)

Nelly’s comments about Em were reportedly aired on an episode of MTV’s now-defunct “Total Request Live” show.

This feud is relatively old. Nelly started it when he appeared on MTV’s “Total Request Live” about 3 years back. He sent out a number of disses and seemingly violent comments towards Em, reiterating his dislike for the Detroit Playa. Nelly said that Eminem was talking about Nelly behind his back, or so he heard. He then proceeded to say that Shady better not go on tour in St. Louis, Nelly’s hometown, because the St. Lunatics would would make short work of them. He even goes on to say, that he “Eats m&ms”. Eminem replied to Nelly’s disses by releasing a song called “Detroit Grammar”. However, I have also been told via an e-mail that Nelly phoned to apologize to Eminem after saying he eats M&M’s, and this is the most likely reason for this beef stopping. (Eminem Lab)

Last year, Nelly addressed critics claiming his career was nearing its end.

“I think it’s real hot that the two singles I have out right now have been doing unbelievably well,” Nelly said in an interview. “‘Just a Dream,’ obviously, almost 2 million now and we’re just working on ‘Move That Body,’ you know, it’s been getting a great response…I think everything is on course. Obviously, some people are gonna have certain things to say about it. Some see it as a comeback, others still are unsure or whatever the case may be. I mean, I don’t trip off of it like that. I just try to continuously work, but, hopefully, you just want your work to speak for itself, but obviously for some reason mine don’t seem to do it sometimes.” (BET)

Last year, Nelly’s 5.0 album debuted at No. 10 with 63,600 sold copies.

Check out a past Nelly interview below:

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Written by S. Samuel

Steven Samuel is the co-founder of SOHH.com.

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