Nelly remains one of the most successful rap acts ever. Albums like the diamond-certified Country Grammar and Nellyville stamped his name as one of the most successful musical acts of the 2000s. Dominating pop charts, hip-hop charts, and even the country charts, Nelly’s impact on hip-hop remains unmatched. Just the other day, he was honored with the I Am Hip Hop Award at the BET Hip-Hop Awards.
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Unfortunately, the efforts of the St. Lunatics don’t receive the same credit which has seemingly caused a rift between one of its members and Nelly. On Monday morning, Ali shared an old interview of Nelly admitting the St. Lunatics’ member’s role in shaping Country Grammar. The post was made in response to what he believed to be a subliminal diss from Nelly. “It’s called a career and in it you have ups and downs…some never have ups themselves so technically they just never had a career. they just was apart of someone else. FACT!!” the alleged diss wrote.
Ali broke down his pivotal efforts in bringing together Country Grammar as palatable for mainstream success. He explained how his pen is what propelled Nelly’s career during the early 2000s, comparing the sales of his debut album to the shortcomings of August’s country-inspired Heartland. “I wrote it & he said it and we sold 10,000,000,” Ali quipped. “do you notice that he hasn’t said ANYTHING about that country album !!?? Well I’ll tell you why …13,000 !!!! Wow , that’s how many copies of that album he sold.” He added that his career “was writing [Nelly] a career.”
This wouldn’t be the first time that Ali demanded credit from Nelly for helping propel his career with his songwriting. We’ll keep you posted if Nelly responds.
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