St. Lunatics

Nelly, Ali, Murphy Lee and a very quiet Kyjuan invited Elon Johnson to practice her "Midwest Swing," and to find out what life was like before the big time, why they're stocking up on air conditioners and how they deal with those tape-waving wannabes.

MTV: What jobs did you have before you started pursuing rap careers?

Ali: A year before we got the deal, I didn't even have a job. [I] just bummed and lived off people. Before that I worked in a barbershop. I just did my little street hustle. Whatever it took, selling tapes, anything.

Murphy Lee: I just got out of high school. [I was] waking up [at] six in the morning, going to school, going to basketball practice, go[ing] to work. I was working at OfficeMax, [then I'd] go straight to the studio. [I'd be in the] studio until five in the morning. I'm talking about straight dedication.

Nelly: I worked at McDonald's. I couldn't do high school. I even worked at UPS until our little underground single got on the radio. Once [the] single got on the radio, I went Hollywood. I quit, I'm out, we done did it. Then it was two years before we got a national deal.

MTV: There aren't that many guest appearances on the album.

Nelly: There's four of us already. We're definitely trying to make a statement as far as who we are. We've got a lot of friends that we've been making in the industry, who further down the line we want to work with. Right now it's just about establishing us.

"Midwest Swing" [RealVideo]

MTV: How do you think the city has been affected by your success? Has it changed?

Nelly: We got a lot of people rapping now, believing now that they got a chance. That's a good thing.

Ali: Everybody's rapping [on] demos, [from kids] to 80-year-old women.

Nelly: I think St. Louis as a whole is just trying to step they game up now. That's a big thing for us, because we helped that. That we helped born that? It's just crazy.

Ali: People just seem proud, you know?

MTV: In a couple of your songs you speak to haters hating for no reason. How have you dealt with that?

Nelly: We just realize that come[s] along with it. [For] anybody, any time on top. Michael Jordan had haters. Can you believe there's somebody out here who didn't like Michael Jordan? I can't see how, but there are some people who didn't. That's one thing that keeps me going.

Ali: Can't please everybody. Then haters get the pot pie, ga-ga-ga-ga. One thing you find out about haters, though — haters are the main ones who would like to be your friends.

Nelly: Or they want to be in the spot that you're in.

Ali: Evil. They ain't gonna hinder [us]. They ain't gonna slow us down.

Murphy Lee: It helps our record sales.

Ali: Keeps the arguments going in the barbershop.

Murphy Lee: If you wake up in the morning with my name in your mouth ...

St. Lunatics

MTV: What is the future of St. Lunatics in terms of the larger things that you guys want to do? Any solo albums coming?

Ali: For me, Lunatics is forever. Music-wise, we're just gonna keep going. We'll be 75 in Vegas [singing] "Down-down baby your seat in a Ranger Rover ... " We're just gonna be doing [a] Lunatic album, Nelly solo album ... I'm gonna venture off on the other side of the camera, directing. I might do a little acting.

Murphy Lee: I want to do everything. I want to go to school forever. I want to be on this side of the camera, too. I want to act.

Nelly: I'm just trying to maintain. I want to get the label thing going to help the other acts, not just St. Louis acts [or] Midwest acts. Also, [I want to] help build up St. Louis. I've got my foundation called Show for Kids. We did a high school tour where we went through, played basketball and just helped the kids ... [and] a lot of these schools [didn't have air conditioners]. Sweltering, no AC? [In] St. Louis it gets smoking!

MTV: Who's the troublemaker of the group, the guy who's never on time to studio sessions?

Ali: I'm always late.

Nelly: We all be late sometimes. But we be late within late, within us. We'll be like, "Man, I know I'm late, but you got to be just late."

Ali: I'm late. I'm like, late-late-late. We argue [about] everything. We can't wait for y'all to cut [the camera] off so we can just get back to arguing. I can be tapping his chair right here. I can tap his chair while he be sitting here and he'll be like, "Yo, stop tapping." And I'll be like, "I wasn't really tapping." We can argue about that like, "Yo, I felt you tapping," and I'll be like, "I wasn't ... all right, I was tapping." But I really wasn't tapping. We just go like that.

Murphy Lee: I'm slow. I'm real slow.

Nelly: I [can] sit there and just be like, "Man, you shouldn't have even worn that shirt." It ain't like you're playing. He'll be like, "Yeah, I shouldn't."

Nelly

Ali: Because when he should have worn it, he's gonna say, "Man, that tight." He's [going to] tell him, "I'm jealous of that shirt."

Nelly: 'Cause if he wore something tight I'd be like, "That was crazy."

Murphy Lee: "Why ain't you get me one?"

Nelly: "Why ain't you get me a pair?" [Everyone laughs]

MTV: You show love to the ladies on the album, which is likely part of the reason why you have such a large female fanbase. Do you have any female groupies? What about male groupies wanting to hand you a tape?

Murphy Lee: We don't get along with groupies.

Nelly: We run.

Ali: We just be cool. We'll speak, as long as you don't come off crazy. We'll never turn down autographs.

Nelly: [Men] want to ride with you. They're like, "What up dawg? I got four of your CD's. Scoot over and let me in the ride." And they be serious!

Ali: Everybody comes with the same intro like, "Yo, I know you get a lot of people bothering you, so I ain't even gonna bother you right now, but check this out. Just give me a call." It's the same routine over and over. This homeboy in Miami, he had his package nice and neat. [He] just handed [his DAT over and] said, "Yo, peace, I'm out," and [he] just kept walking. We listened to it.