I'm sure most of you have heard of Nelly...No..No..not Nelly Furtado, I'm talking about the rapper Nelly. Well anyways those of you that know him have probably heard his music either on the radio, on his cd, or mp3's that you download.
For those of you who don't know who he is, please pay attention. He's a rap artist and his name is Cornell Haynes,
Jr. but he calls himself Nelly. Nelly grew up in St. Louis and experienced first hand the dangers and temptations of life on the street.
His escape came when he moved as a teenager with his mother
to a nearby suburban University City. In his new hood, he discovered lures of a more constructive kind which was playing baseball, storytelling and writing rhymes. With some of his high school friends, Nelly formed a band called the "St. Lunatics". In the same way that Master P proudly placed the New Orleans on the growing hip hop map, 20-year old Nelly introduced the world to the uncharted waters of St. Louis.
They scored a regional hit when I was in sixth grade which was back in 1996 I think, with the self produced single, "Gimmie What You Got." When they got frustrated in attempts to land a record deal as a group, all of them decided that Nelly would have a better chance as a single, banking on his winning stage presence and superior rhyming skills. Their gamble paid off and soon thereafter, Nelly caught the attention of Universal, who released his debut album,
Country Grammar, in 2000.