About Me
Myspace BackgroundsWhen I first debuted nationally in summer 2000,I seemed like a novelty, but it quickly became apparent that I was, in fact, an exceptional artist, a rapper with truly universal appeal. I wasn't from the East or West Coast, and wasn't really from the Dirty South, either. Rather, I was from St. Louis, a Midwestern city halfway between Minneapolis and New Orleans. My locale certainly informed My rapping style, which was as much country as urban, and my dialect as well, which was, similarly, as much Southern drawl as Midwestern twang. Plus, I never shied away from a pop-rap approach, embracing a singalong vocal style that made my hooks incredibly catchy. As a result, Nelly became an exceptional rapper capable of crossing all boundaries, from the Dirty South to the TRL crowd and everything in between. My first hit, "Country Grammar," became a summer anthem, and many more hits followed. In particular, my popularity peaked in summer 2002, when I topped seemingly every Billboard chart possible with my Nellyville album and its lead single, "Hot in Herre."I was born Cornell Haynes Jr. in St. Louis, where I encountered the street temptations so synonymous with rap artists. And like so many of my contemporaries, a change in circumstance at a pivotal time in my life may have changed the course of my life. In my case, when I was a teenager, I was taken away from those streets when my mother moved to nearby suburban University City. It was there that I shifted my attention to playing baseball, storytelling, and writing rhymes. With some high-school friends, I formed the St. Lunatics, who scored a regional hit in 1996 with a self-produced single, "Gimmie What You Got." Frustrated with failed attempts to land a record deal as a group, we collectively decided that I would have a better chance as a single act. The rest of the group could follow with solo albums of their own.The gamble paid off, and soon I caught the attention of Universal, who released my debut album, Country Grammar, in 2000. What distinguished my take on rap from others was my laid-back delivery, deliberately reflecting the distinctive language and Southern tone of the Midwest. The album featured contributions from the St. Lunatics as well as the Teamsters, Lil' Wayne, and Cedric the Entertainer, and spent seven weeks on top of the U.S. album charts. All along, my goal was to put my hometown of St. Louis and the St. Lunatics on the hip-hop map. Though I had become a star as a solo artist as planned, I said that I was and always will be a member of the St. Lunatics, a collective that also includes Big Lee, Kyjuan, Murphy Lee, and City Spud. I fulfilled my promise in 2001 with the release of Free City, the debut St. Lunatics album featuring the hit single "Midwest Swing."
