Nelly (file)
Photo: Getty Images

Do you ever want to tilt ya head back during Psych 101? Well, Nelly may have the perfect solution.

The rapper and his St. Lunatics crew are launching their U.S. tour with seven college dates in March supporting his current albums, Sweat and Suit (see "Nelly Explains The Fine Line Between Sweat And Suit"). A larger U.S. tour is expected to follow in April, although no dates have been confirmed yet.

After hitting the college circuit, Nelly will join the rodeo — the Star of Texas Fair and Rodeo, anyway. He will be the first rapper to perform at the 68-year-old event, which will be held in Austin on March 23. He is also scheduled to perform at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival on April 24 (see "Jazz Fest Lineup Includes Nelly, Dave Matthews, Roots, Wilco, Anastasio").

However, before all of that, Nelly will launch the newest collections for his Vokal and Apple Bottoms clothing lines at the MAGIC Marketplace fashion convention in Las Vegas next week.

Nelly tour dates, according to his record label:

• 3/7 - Edwardsville, IL @ Southern Illinois University         
• 3/8 - Champaign, IL @ University of Illinois                    
• 3/9 - Rockford, IL @ Northern Illinois University          
• 3/10 - Springfield, IL @ S.W. Missouri State University
• 3/12 - Jonesboro, AR @ Arkansas State University
• 3/14 - Columbus, OH @ Ohio State University Ballroom
• 3/15 - University Park, PA @ Penn State University

• Nelly
• Nelly & the St. Lunatics
• St. Lunatics

Nelly performs at Radio City Music Hall on Friday
Photo: Jason Campbell/MTV

NEW YORK — Cornell "Nelly" Haynes has love for New York. His new Apple Bottoms line of clothes for women even has part of the city's nickname in the title. But does NYC have love for Nelly?

During his last stop in the Tri-State area, Hot 97's Summer Jam, the singing MC heard the boo birds before he could finish "Dilemma," one of his biggest hits. On Friday night, Nelly returned to the Big Apple as part of his Up Close and Personal Tour (see "Mayor Of Nellyville Getting Up Close With His Citizens"), fully dusted off and ready to make everybody in Radio City Music Hall feel him. (Click for photos from the show.)

After opener Calvin Richardson made the ladies scream with his crooning (see "Nelly Opening Slot Helps Calvin Richardson Keep 'Pushin' ' "), surprise guests the Diplomats had almost everyone on their feet yelling "Dip Set, Dip Set!" Then the crowd had fun booing a few fans who were bold enough to get onstage and sing and dance at the encouragement of the night's comedian host.

Nelly started his headlining set flanked by the St. Lunatics, kicking things off the way you would expect a New Edition concert to jump off, with each Lunatic lined up in a triangular formation. The only illumination on the darkened stage was from spotlights highlighting each rapper.

Fans cheered when the lights went off for a few seconds, and when the spotlights came back on, the Lunatics had changed places. The sonic thump of "Air Force Ones" started playing, and all the Lunatics progressed to bouncing and doing St. Louis' now famed Mono dance.

The crew didn't stay in R&B boy band formation for long, though. Some of the guys didn't even stay on the stage during the song. Murphy Lee walked into the crowd, standing atop seats to rap his verse, while Ali and silent hype man Slo Down walked from the stage to stairs to small platforms leading to the first mezzanine seats.

To give fans a tangible taste of what his family was rapping about, Nelly threw both Air Force sneakers he had on his feet into the crowd as the song came to an end. With most of the crowd on its feet and cheering, it was obvious Nelly wouldn't be hearing jeers on Friday as he stood in his socks.

While Nells got a fresh pair of kicks it was Murphy Lee's turn to shine as he performed the first single from his September release, Murphy's Law, "Wat Da Hook Gon Be." He proclaimed in his rap that the Jermaine Dupri-produced cut is so hot it doesn't need a chorus.

"Yo, what the hook gon' be?" the Lunatics asked.

"I don't need no f---in' hook on this beat," Murph hollered back. "All I need is the track and the background, my headphones loud."

Murph then went back into the audience and was joined by Nelly for "Shake Your Tailfeather." One young lady tried to grab Murph's tail feather as he was balancing himself on a chair. The youngest St. Lunatic was too fast, however, and the girl only managed to get her acrylic nails on his basketball jersey. Lee quickly pulled it from her clutches and kept rapping.

"I'm not hard, I've got women to handle that/ They be like, 'He the man,' when I'm really a Thundercat/ Come on, you know the Tics connect like Voltron."

Nelly and Murph spent almost half of their time living up to the show's Up Close and Personal name, either spitting vocals atop chairs among their fans or standing inches away from the spectators' outstretched arms by the first mezzanine.

During "Batter Up," where the Tics changed up the beat and rapped over the instrumental to "Never Scared," Nells even tried to walk into the mezzanine, but he was turned away by a house security guard. Meanwhile, Nelly's own brawny security guards were having a hard time catching up with him every time he left the stage to touch his fans.

Those who couldn't grab hold of Nelly were still able to audibly let him know they were feeling his music. Although he would fall back a little to let the Tics get their own moments with solo offerings, Nelly's hits were the overwhelming highlights of the night.

Singing, rapping and clapping cascaded down on Radio City for "E.I.," "Hot in Herre," "Ride Wit Me" and "Pimp Juice," but toward the end of the set Nelly got the loudest participation from his female fans. After finishing his verse from 'NSYNC's "Girlfriend," Nelly said he would pick a lady from the crowd to be his main squeeze. There was just one catch — she didn't have to look the best, have the longest hair weave or the shapeliest body; all she had to do was sing the loudest for the finale, "Dilemma."

"No matter what I do, all I think about is you," ladies passionately crooned as if they were actually Kelly Rowland herself. "Even when I'm with my boo/ Boy, you know I'm crazy over you."

Nelly smiled at the reaction, but apparently the ladies didn't sing loud enough. He didn't choose a lady to be his wifey.

For more sights and stories from concerts around the country, check out MTV News Tour Reports.

• Nelly
• St. Lunatics

St. Lunatic Murphy Lee recently shot a video for the Jermaine Dupri collaboration "What the Hook Goin' Be?," the first single from his solo album, Murphy's Law, due in September. The album will also include Lil' Wayne, Snoop Dogg and the Murphy Lee/P. Diddy/Nelly "Bad Boys II" single "Shake Your Tailfeather." "Benny Boom shot both videos," Lee said. "They're amazing." ...

The Donnas shot a video for a remix of "Too Bad About Your Girl" in Los Angeles over the weekend. The song will be featured on the soundtrack to the skateboarding movie "Grind," which opens August 15 and stars Mike Vogel ("Grounded for Life"), who will also appear in the video. ... Beyoncé Knowles, Shania Twain, Craig David and David Gray partied in London's Hyde Park for an open-air concert benefiting disadvantaged children on Sunday. More than 100,000 tickets were sold and more than $1.6 million was raised for the Prince's Trust, the charity headed by Prince Charles, the Associated Press reports. ...

Nelly will soon kick off a six-city tour, and this time it isn't just to rock the stage. Nelly will be hitting Miami, Atlanta, Houston, New York, Los Angeles and St. Louis to find a model for his new women's clothing line, Apple Bottom. According to Nelly's publicist, proceeds from the tour will go to the Jes Us 4 Jackie Foundation with the hopes of increasing the number of donors on the National Marrow Donor Program Registry. ... "Time," a previously unreleased track from Saliva, has found a home on the soundtrack to the "Tomb Raider" sequel, alongside a remixed Moby track, Paul Oakenfold's reworking of P.O.D.'s "Satellite," and album cuts by Filter, the Dandy Warhols and Conjure One, which features guest singer Sinéad O'Connor. "Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life" hits the silver screen July 25, and its soundtrack drops three days earlier. ...

Eddie Vedder has written the introduction to rock photog Charles Peterson's latest collection, "Touch Me I'm Sick," due in November. Like Peterson's previous work, this volume continues to document the grunge era, focusing on the birth of the Seattle scene via early live shots of Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Mudhoney and Sleater-Kinney, among others. ... My Bloody Valentine founder Kevin Shields is scoring "Lost in Translation," Sofia Coppola's follow-up to "The Virgin Suicides." The soundtrack, due August 9, will include four score pieces, along with the first two Shields songs to be released in 13 years, plus material from Air, Jesus and Mary Chain and Death in Vegas. ...

Eighties icon Cyndi Lauper has collaborated with the Minus 5, the side project of R.E.M.'s Peter Buck and Young Fresh Fellows' Scott McCaughey, on a song for the upcoming Wig in a Box, an audio tribute to the play-turned-cult-film "Hedwig and the Angry Inch." Their "Midnight Radio" will appear next to cuts by the Breeders, Polyphonic Spree, Spoon and Jonathan Richman as well as Hedwig creators Stephen Trask and John Cameron Mitchell. The LP is due October 21 and will benefit the Hetrick-Martin Institute, home to the Harvey Milk High School for gay, lesbian and transgender students. ...

Felix Da Housecat will follow-up his acclaimed Kittenz and Thee Glitz with A Bugged Out Mix on September 9. ... David Bowie's last trek to the Big Apple was documented by a series of photographs to be released in the upcoming book "David Bowie: Live in New York." Portrait photographer Myriam Santos-Kayda followed the singer during his October 2002 marathon tour, capturing him on five nights in five venues in each of the five boroughs. The book, due in October with a foreword by Bowie, contains shots of the Thin White Duke onstage and backstage. ...

07.03.2003

"The only thing left is 'The Osbournes on Ice,' " Ozzy Osbourne joked about the possibility of touring with his daughter Kelly, with whom he recently re-recorded the classic Black Sabbath tune "Changes" as a duet for his next album. "I don't think her music and my music are anything like each other," he conceded, "but if anyone throws one f---ing thing at my daughter, I'm on that stage with a baseball bat." ...

Guess you can call her the First Lady of Ruff Ryders and Aftermath. Eve, who was originally signed to Dr. Dre's label before joining forces with the Ruff Ryders, has now come full circle. According to one of her reps, Eve's next LP will be released through a joint venture with Aftermath and the Double R. In March, Eve told MTV News that the Doc will be producing several tracks on the project. ...

Godsmack's European tour, which was to begin July 13 in Manchester, England, was inexplicably nixed. The trek included headlining shows and festivals. ... Kid Rock threw a surprise birthday party for Pam Anderson Tuesday night in Malibu, California. On short notice, Rock enlisted the Lazy Stars, the house band for the alt country Sweethearts of the Rodeo night, held on the first Wednesday of each month at Hollywood's Molly Malone's. The countrified vibe got partygoer David Spade to get up and sing Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Sweet Home Alabama," while John Stamos sat in on drums. ... Dashboard Confessional's first single off A Mark, A Mission, A Brand, A Scar, out August 12, will be the suggestive "Hands Down," previously released on the 2001 EP So Impossible. The new version goes for adds at radio July 15. Meanwhile, Dashboard headline a tour that runs August 30 through September 18. MxPx support for the whole trek, while Vendetta Red will open on select dates to be announced. ...

Nick Carter continues to work on his second solo record and is currently on his way back from Toronto, where he was laying down a couple of tracks with "Informer" reggae rapper Snow, Carter's management said. Meanwhile, Carter's other collaborator, Tommy Lee, has been angrily defending himself against outraged metal fans who have been criticizing the drummer for working with the Backstreet Boy. "Am I never supposed to write a song for anyone else?" Lee wrote in his Web journal at www.joysmayhem.com. "I'm not joining the Backstreet Boys, I was asked by Nick ... to help him get a more aggressive sound for his new CD!! ... He's a huge rock fan ... You all would be very surprised ... Do I judge your work!?!!? ... It wouldn't get me off posting to everyone how you burn the burgers you flip at Jack in the Box!!" ...

The Goodie Mob insist that the departure of Cee-Lo did not spell the demise of the group. The remaining members, Big Gipp, Khujo and T-Mo, have been working on their next LP, called Black History. Gipp is just about done putting together his first solo effort, Mutant Mind Frame. That LP is due sometime in August and features appearances from Outkast, among others. ...

Dido's follow-up to No Angel — which yielded "Thank You," most famously sampled by Eminem in 2000's "Stan" — is finally finished. The LP, titled Life for Rent, hits stores September 30, while the album's first single, "White Flag," arrives July 7 at radio. Other songs on the record include "Stoned," "Mary's in India," "Sand in My Shoes," "This Land Is Mine" and "See the Sun." ... Singer/songwriter Ben Lee makes his film debut in the Australian coming-of-age comedy "The Rage in Placid Lake," in which he co-stars with Miranda Richardson (his girlfriend, Claire Danes, makes a cameo). Lee plays the title character, the son of two hippie parents who are horrified when he takes a job at an insurance company. The film makes its world premiere this month at the Melbourne International Film Festival. ...

The Ying Yang Twins will release their third album, Me and My Brother, on August 25. Until then, the duo can be heard on Lil Jon and the East Side Boyz's "Get Low." "It's possessing women's bodies," Jon said of the song. "If you don't believe me, go to the club and watch what happens when the song come on." ... New York laid-back hip-hop crew the Fun Lovin' Criminals are scheduled to drop their new album, Welcome to Poppy's, September 9. The LP is the studio follow-up to 1999's 100% Colombian. ... Truth Hurts is recording the follow-up to her 2002 debut, Truthfully Speaking, which will again feature production from mentor Dr. Dre. "You will definitely still hear beats and you will definitely still hear the real talk and it will definitely be me," she said. ...

If it's not Scottish it's crap? This could be the rationale for the new Ewan McGregor/Tilda Swinton film "Young Adam," scored by ex-Talking Heads frontman David Byrne. Byrne, born in Scotland, collected Glasgow's musical elite — including members of Belle & Sebastian, Mogwai, the Reindeer Section and Future Pilot A.K.A. — to assist in composing the upcoming film's soundtrack, due September 7 on Thrill Jockey Records. ... Depeche Mode singer Dave Gahan will embark on his first solo tour of North America on July 18 in Atlanta. The 21 dates that follow, through August 25 in Los Angeles, support his solo debut, Paper Monsters, released June 3, and its new single, "I Need You." At the shows, expect to hear new material as well as Depeche Mode favorites. ...

• St. Lunatics
• The Donnas
• Beyoncé
• Nelly
• Saliva

D12
Photo: Jonathan Mannion

A track Gorillaz and D12 recorded days after September 11 will be released on the upcoming "Bad Company" soundtrack, along with previously unreleased material from DMX, Bubba Sparxxx and Jagged Edge.

"911," which also features Terry Hall of veteran ska group the Specials, is a Middle Eastern-flavored tune with references to the terrorist attacks and Osama bin Laden (see "Gorillaz's '911' Collaboration With D12 Available Online").

Due June 4, the soundtrack will also feature songs from Blu Cantrell, New Orleans rapper Supervision featuring Ja Rule, Mr. Cheeks, Next, Jaheim, and newcomers Rama Duke and Kola, according to a spokesperson for the movie.

The album's first single is "Breathe in Breathe Out" from Ali featuring the St. Lunatics. Ali said the idea for the song came from a dance started at a club in his hometown. 

"It's a big thing in St. Louis," Ali said. "There's a dance that goes with it. 'Breathe in/ Breathe out/ Do the chickenhead/ Let it out.' "

Other songs on the soundtrack include Outkast's "B.O.B. (Bombs Over Baghdad)" and Tricky's  "Excess," which features Alanis Morissette.

"Bad Company," in theaters June 7, stars Chris Rock as the blue-collar twin brother of a CIA operative who is killed on the verge of completing a top-secret mission. A veteran agent, played by Anthony Hopkins, is brought in to train Rock's character in nine days to complete the mission.

The "Bad Company" track list, according to a spokesperson for the movie (Mr. Cheeks' song has not been finalized):

• Ali featuring the St. Lunatics - "Breathe in Breathe Out"
• Outkast - "B.O.B. (Bombs Over Baghdad)"
• Jagged Edge - "All Out of Love"
• D12 and Gorillaz - "911"
• Blu Cantrell - "It's Killing Me"
• Pretty Willie - "NaNa"
• Dub Pistols - "6 Million Ways to Live"
• Tricky - "Excess"
• DMX - "Trina Moe"
• Supervision featuring Ja Rule - "My Crew"
• Rama Duke  - "Keep This Love Alive"
• Bubba Sparxxx  - "Lose Your Mind"
• Kola - "Don't Touch"
• Next - "Tonight"
• Jaheim - "Anything for You"

• D12
• St. Lunatics
• OutKast
• DMX

Everyone expects "Spider-Man" to be a box office blockbuster, but it's likely to make a pretty big dent on the Billboard albums chart as well.

The movie's soundtrack features Aerosmith doing their version of "Theme From Spider-Man" alongside tracks by Sum 41, Alien Ant Farm, the Strokes, Pete Yorn and others.

Meanwhile, Ali from Nelly's St. Lunatics crew reveals how he keeps his baggy pants manageable on Heavy Starch, which features guest spots from Nelly, Ms. Toi, Toya and Murphy Lee.

Blackalicious drop Blazing Arrow, the follow-up to 2000's Nia, and newcomer Vanessa Carlton releases Be Not Nobody.

And from the wayback machine, former teen heartthrob David Cassidy issues his fourth non-Partridge effort, Then & Now, while Robert Palmer releases the quizzically titled Best of Both Worlds, an anthology having nothing to do with Jay-Z or R. Kelly and featuring songs from 1974-2001.

Out Tuesday, April 30:

• 38th Parallel - Turn the Tides (Squint)
• 7th Rail Crew - Sevenation (Capo)
• Alabama Thunderpussy - Staring at the Divine (Relapse)
• Ali - Heavy Starch (Universal)
  Read about it ... "St. Lunatic Ali Unveils His Lexicon, Cleaning Instructions"
• Trey Anastasio - Trey Anastasio (Elektra)
• Babu: Dilated Junkie - Duck Season 1 (Sequence)
• Big Brother and the Holding Company - Live in San Francisco 1966 (Varese Sarabande)
• Big Tymers - Hood Rich (Cash Money)
• Blackalicious - Blazing Arrow (MCA)
• Boeing - Beta (Urabon)
• Brant Bjork & the Operators - Brant Bjork & the Operators (Music Cartel)
• C-Murder - Tru Dawgs (Riviera)
• Vanessa Carlton - Be Not Nobody (A&M)
• David Cassidy - Then & Now (Decca)
• Ray Chew & Crew - Feelin' It (Charu)
• Crosstops - Cloverleaf:Fandango (Tinnitus)
• Dissection - Storm of the Light's Bane: Where Dead Angels Lie (Nuclear Blast)
• Electric Universe - Unify (EFA)
• Electric Wizard - Let Us Prey (Music Cartel)
• Ghostface Killah - Wonderful World of Wallabees (Warner Bros.)
• Gonzales - Presidential Suite (EFA)
• Miguel Graca - Monkey Mass (Bombay)
• Hip Hop Dub All-Stars - Hip Hop Dub All-Stars Volume 1 (Illstyle)
• Iniquity - Grime (Candlelight US)
• Insomnium - In the Halls of Awaiting (Candlelight US)
• Jethro Tull - Living With the Past (Fuel 2000)
• Kalmah - They Will Return (Century Media)
• Mark Knopfler - "A Shot at Glory" soundtrack (Warner Bros.)
• Mr. Lil One - Tha Sicko Hits (East Side Records)
• My Life With the Thrill Kill Cult - Golden Pillz: Luna Remixes (Underground Inc.)
• Nuspirit Helsinki - Nuspirit Helsinki (Guidance)
• Robert Palmer - Best of Both Worlds: The Robert Palmer Anthology (1974-2001) (Hip-O)
• Andrew Pelker - Station to Station (EFA)
• Amanda Perez - Where You At? (Universal)
• Ram-Zet - Escape (Century Media)
• REO Speedwagon - Hits (reissue, Legacy)
• Rocking Horse Winner - Horizon (Equal Vision)
• Roman Candle - Says Pop (Outlook Music)
• Simon & Milo - Ready Ready Set Go (Hollywood)
• Slug & El-P - RPM: Revolutions Per Minute Version 2.1 (Counterflow)
• Solar Dawn - Equinoctium (Candlelight US)
• Sonic Sum - Plasterman (Ozone)
• South Park Mexican - Reveille Park (Dope House)
• Suffocation - Despise the Sun (Relapse)
• Teddy Jack - Teddy Jack (Leon Russell)
• Tiamat - Judas Christ (Century Media)
• Tino - Tino's Breaks Volumes 1&2 (Tino Corp)
• Various artists - Battleaxe Warriors 2 (Battleaxe)
• Various artists - Between or Beyond the Northern Lights (EFA)
• Various artists - "Changing Lanes" soundtrack (Varese Sarabande)
• Various artists - House 2 Trance Me (Universal Music Latino)
• Various artists - More Ethereal Melodic Trance (Water Music)
• Various artists - Notes From Thee Real Underground Vol. 3 (Invisible)
• Various artists - Sole Beats (Sole)
• Various artists - T.H.C.: The Hip-Hop Collection Vol. 1 (High Times)
  Read about it ... "High Times Records: The Greenest Label In The Biz"
• Various artists - Tribute to the Beast (Nuclear Blast)
• Various artists - Troubadours: The Essential Album (Manteca)
• Various artists - "Salton Sea" soundtrack (Varese Sarabande)
• Various artists - Sharp Dressed Men: ZZ Top Tribute (RLG)
• Various artists - "Spider-Man" soundtrack (Columbia)
  Read about it ... 'Spider-Man' Theme To Come Courtesy Of Aerosmith
• Various artists - Ultra Chilled 02 (Ultra)

May 7:

• Grandmaster Flash - Essential Mix (Warner)
  Read about it ... Grandmaster Flash Brings Back '70s, '80s Beats On Essential Mix
• Musiq - Juslisen (Island/Def Jam)
  Read about it ... Musiq Soulchild Croons Conversation Pieces On Juslisen
• Naughty by Nature - Iicons (TVT)
  Read about it ... Naughty By Nature, 3LW Save The Day
• Various artists - Family Values Tour 2001(Elektra)
  Read about it ... Aaron Lewis Assists STP, Linkin Park On Family Values CD

May 14:

• Atticus Fault - Atticus Fault (Island/Def Jam)
• Various artists - Now Presents Urban Hits (Columbia)

May 21:

• Breeders - Title TK (Elektra)
• Tommy Lee - Never a Dull Moment (MCA)
• Raphael Saadiq - Instant Vintage (Universal)

June 4:

• Eminem - The Eminem Show (Interscope)
  Read about it ... The Doc's Diagnosis: Eminem Still Crazy
• Lil' Romeo - Game Time (Universal/No Limit)
  Read about it ... Lil' Romeo Battles His Evil Twin On B-Ball Court

• Aerosmith
• Sum 41
• Alien Ant Farm
• C-Murder
• St. Lunatics

St. Lunatics' Ali
Photo: Universal

What Run-D.M.C. did for Adidas and Busta Rhymes did for Courvoisier, Ali is doing for the dry cleaning industry.

With the title of his debut solo album, Heavy Starch, the St. Lunatics rapper reveals the secret to the distinguishable look of a St. Louis b-boy.

"We wear our pants so baggy that you need to get them heavy starch at the dry cleaners so they don't just hang all over," Ali said Thursday from a Lunatic-packed tour bus en route to Kansas City. "I wanted to make everything [about the album] as St. Louis as possible."

If the idea of a rapper standing in line at the dry cleaners sounds a bit odd to you, don't worry, you're not alone. Ali agrees, and even created a word and a song about it: "Boughetto."

"It's a combination of words. It's boughi (slang for bourgeois) and ghetto," Ali explained. "Before we got the rap deal, our life was ghetto. We got the deal and got a little money, and all of the sudden we find ourselves in situations like in L.A. at parties with caviar. I'm like, 'What is this?' Little bitty finger foods. After a while, we always find ourselves in situations like that. 'Yo, this is like boughi.' If you got the Nike Air Force One tennis shoes and you get the Louis Vuitton put on the side, that's boughetto."

If that definition doesn't explain it well enough, Ali and fellow St. Lunatic Murphy Lee — who appears on the song, the first single from Heavy Starch — have teamed with director Marc Klasfield (Pink, Linkin Park) for a video stocked with further examples.

"[For the] first verse, I was at an industry party talking to a girl who was boughi ' 'Cause her shoes cost a grand/ But she's ghetto 'cause she cusses too much and talks with her hands,' " Ali said. "Then the second verse is Murphy Lee's verse and we're in a little bodega, corner store, shopping in a mink coat. The third verse, I was in a Lamborghini, and the whole time you see me in it with a chick, and then at the end you see I'm getting towed."

"Boughetto" was produced by newcomer Wally Yaghnam, though most of the tracks on the album, due April 30, were produced by Jason "Jay E" Epperson (see "St. Lunatics' Ali Preps Solo Album"), the man behind Nelly's Country Grammar.

Nelly himself appears on four Heavy Starch tracks, all with Murphy Lee and Kyjuan as well. Other guests include fellow St. Louis native Toya, Universal Records labelmate Ms. Toi, former Xscape singer Kandi, Ray Ray and the St. Louis Alumni, a collective of local rappers Ali gathered specifically for the album.

"All the rappers from the 'hood who've been doing it for a long time, I just wanted to give them an opportunity," Ali said. "We've got a lot of recognition, but I wanted to recognize them. They all played a part in our lives. Somewhere along the line they made it possible for us."

Ali, who, like Nelly, mostly creates a party atmosphere with his vocal and lyrical approach, does have a serious side, which he said is the second meaning behind Heavy Starch. "Some of the issues I talk about on my album are a little bit heavier than you normally get from the Lunatics," he said.

Among the more profound Ali tracks are "Crucial," about the importance of safe sex, and "Collection Plate," about what Ali calls "the fake reverends." "You know, they drive all expensive cars, they ain't really into it, just fakin' it," he said.

Ali, who just finished touring with Nas, will appear at St. Louis' Streetside Records on April 30, the day Heavy Starch hits stores, and will follow with a string of in-store appearances around the country.

St. Lunatics will be on the road together this summer in support of Nelly's second album, Nellyville, due June 25 (see "Nelly Announces Release Date For Next LP"), after which the group will begin recording its next record and Murphy Lee's solo debut.

"We've got a little something special in the bag," Ali said. "But we're going to take our time, so you'll have to be patient."

Heavy Starch track list, according to Universal:

• "Intro"
• "I Got This"
• "Crucial" f/ Murphy Lee
• "Ore-Ore-O"
• "No" f/ Nelly, Murphy Lee and Kyjuan
• "Boughetto" f/ Murphy Lee
• "360"
• "Wiggle Wiggle" f/ Nelly, Murphy Lee and Kyjuan
• "Drop Top" f/ Kandi
• "Collection Plate" f/ Nelly, Murphy Lee and Kyjuan
• "Passin' Me By" f/ Toya
• "Bitch"
• "Beast" f/ Ray Ray
• "Cool As Hell" f/ Nelly, Murphy Lee and Kyjuan
• "St. Louis Alumni" f/ St. Louis Alumni
• "Serious"
• "Walk Away" f/ Nelly and Ms. Toi

• St. Lunatics

Nelly
Photo: Universal

Though it's still a little while off, Nelly is almost ready to welcome us all to his neck of the woods. His label has announced that his second solo LP, Nellyville, will be released just in time to help kick off the summer, on June 25.

The St. Louis MC, who'll portray a rapper named Prolific in the movie "Snipes" later this year, will be bringing his sing-songy rhyme flow to wax way before then, however: He and the rest of the St. Lunatics will be featured on group member Ali's debut solo effort, Heavy Starch, on April 9 (see "St. Lunatics' Ali Preps Solo Album").

The first single from that album is called "Boughetto" (pronounced boo-jetto), which means being a combination of bourgeoisie and ghetto and satirizes people who walk the line between class and crass.

"She's boughetto, that means she's bourgeoisie and ghetto," they rhyme on the song. "Bougie 'cause her shoes cost a grand/ Ghetto 'cause she cuss too much and talks with her hand." The video was shot in Los Angeles on January 7 and 8 by Mark Klasfeld and features Ali as a teacher giving his students a crash course on the ins and out of boughettoness.

Ali's song and clip should hit the airwaves in the next few weeks. No word yet on Nellyville's initial offering, as Nelly is still recording (see "Nelly's Studio On Wheels Heading To Nellyville").

• Nelly
• St. Lunatics

Nelly
Photo: MTV News

Nelly's apparently not afraid of over-saturating the market. While his debut solo album, Country Grammar, was still red hot, he went ahead and released an album with his St. Lunatics crew.

And now, with his "#1" single from the "Training Day" soundtrack on the way, he's already got another single and clip ready to go — "Let Me in Now," off St. Lunatics' Free City.

While "#1" strikes back at the haters who've criticized his sound, "Let Me in Now" finds Nelly and the St. Lunatics just having fun.

"A St. Louis pageant [is] kind of the theme for [the video]," Nelly said Wednesday in New York, in town for Thursday's MTV Video Music Awards. "We're kind of running around backstage, and you know us — backstage at a pageant, a beauty pageant anyway, you can imagine what's that like."

"We're not focused," said fellow St. Lunatic Kyjuan.

"Not at all," Nelly echoed, implying that the video will be as obsessed with sex as the song is.

Meanwhile, the multiplatinum rapper is already writing his next solo album, Nellyville, which will address the ups and down-downs of fame and fortune (see "Nelly's Studio On Wheels Heading To Nellyville").

"It's like everything in my little town, so to speak," he said. "The good and the bad that's been coming along with the success we've been achieving, although the good far outweighs the bad."

The good includes three VMA nominations for "Ride Wit Me" — Best Male Video, Best Rap Video and Viewers Choice. But Nelly expects Eminem to be the big winner.

"I think he might pretty much do the Grammy thing here. Why not, though? The dude's been doing his thing," Nelly said, adding with a laugh that he thinks "Ride Wit Me" was the best video of the year. "I mean, what can I say? Promotion — I need it."

• Nelly
• St. Lunatics

Nelly
Photo: MTV News

Next time Nelly yells his signature "uh oh!" it might not be because he's trying to figure out where the party's at — it may be because he's mad.

On his new single, "#1," the first offering from the "Training Day" soundtrack, Nelly lashes out at haters, biters and people who say his music isn't "real hip-hop."

"You better watch who you talking about, running around like you know me," he warns. Nelly later goes on to blast "rappers emulating my style right to the 'down, down'" and sings, "two is not a winner, and three no one remembers" on the chorus.

Monday evening before the Source Hip-Hop Music Awards in Miami, Nelly said people forced his hand.

"No controversy at all. We ain't trying to take nothing from nobody," Nelly explained, "we just don't want nobody taking nothing from us. We got a lot of people trying to discredit us for the things we've done. '#1' is to let you know we did what we had to do — don't hate on us. We didn't step on nobody to get to where we're at."

Nelly will begin shooting the clip's video with director Steve Carr in Las Vegas on Monday. The "Training Day" soundtrack hits stores September 11, and the movie hits theaters September 21.

The "Training Day" soundtrack's track listing, according to Priority Records:

• C-Murder and Trick Daddy - "Watch the Police"
• Golden State Project - "Bounce With Golden State"
• The LOX - "Dirty Ryders"
• Snoop Dogg - "I Can't Take It"
• Cypress Hill featuring Kokane - "Greed"
• Tupac featuring the Outlawz - "Letters to the President"
• Gang Starr - "The Squeeze"
• Clipse featuring the Neptunes - "Guns N' Roses"
• Krumbsnatcha featuring M.O.P. - "Wolves"
• P. Diddy and David Bowie - "American Dream"
• Napalm - "Crooked Cops"
• Roscoe - "Training Day (In My Hood)"
• Pharoahe Monch - "Fuó"
• Dr. Dre - "Cops DR2"
• Soldier B - "Protect Your Head"
• W.C. - "Assault & Battery"
• Nelly - "#1"

• Nelly
• St. Lunatics

St. Lunatics
Photo: Universal

Once a hip-hop artist achieves any semblance of success, expect to hear about it from his friends. More than simply brag about their platinum-selling homie, though, chances are they'll rap with him on their own album.

Within the last two months, collections from the Nelly-backed St. Lunatics and the Eminem-featured D12 have stormed into record stores. The Lunatics' Free City debuted on the Billboard 200 albums chart at #3 on June 13, while D12 earned the #1 slot with Devils Night two weeks later.

Many other hip-hop acts have turned the same trick, piggybacking a new act on the strength of a star, and with the success of St. Lunatics and D12, the trend shows no sign of slowing. Eminem and Nelly maintain that they just happened to blow up before their crews; both have said in countless interviews they and their crews had an understanding that whoever made it big first would return and bring the entire band up.

"In general, posse albums tend to be a lot weaker than the star's album," said Serena Kim, Vibe magazine's music editor. "It's usually about a posse of semitalented people versus a supremely talented star."

Many fans agree with Kim's evaluation. "I've been down with Eminem since he was underground, but the D12 album is garbage because they're all trying to be smart-alecks like Eminem instead of busting their own styles," said Byron Stancil, a 25-year-old hip-hop fan in Massachusetts. "Proof and the rest had their own little talents, but they're just trying to be carbon copies of Eminem, and I don't think it works."

Regardless of the talent level of groups such as D12 and St. Lunatics, there's a definite business benefit to launching acts via established stars.

"It's smart from a sales perspective," said Masta Ace, former member of the Juice Crew, an artists' collective that also included Marley Marl, Big Daddy Kane and Biz Markie, among others. In its prime, from the mid-'80s to the early '90s, the Juice Crew was one of the first hip-hop clans to create careers for each of its members.

"It's just that much easier to establish other artists when they can spin off of something that's already successful," Ace said. "It's a formula labels are chasing like crazy now. It's gotten to the point where labels won't sign an act unless they know who he's associated with. It has watered down the music."

It's sales that count in the end, however, and it's almost always easier to launch an act springboarding off of a Nelly (see "St. Lunatics' Ali Preps Solo Album") or an Eminem than it is to break an unknown act without an endorsement from an established rapper.

It "makes sense" to operate this way, according to Dave Weiner, senior vice president of urban music and distributed labels for JCOR Entertainment, whose roster includes 8Ball & MJG. "It's definitely a common way to launch careers. Pretty much everyone who's had gold or platinum success has done this. It makes sense to the people financing the project because it piggybacks on the marketing and promotion of their previous success."

And, said Vibe's Kim, "It helps to perpetuate the hype of the artist without the artist having to commit to a whole album. Plus, if the crew is on the star's label, the star makes money from royalties."

Music seems to be the only entertainment outlet in which friends regularly put friends in talent-driven positions. Michael Jordan's high-school buddy never suited up for the Chicago Bulls, and Michael J. Fox's childhood pal didn't trip "Back to the Future" with him.

But here is Nelly's crew repping St. Louis to the max, while Eminem's dirty dozen join him on his devils nights (see "Eminem's Crew Has Familiar Message: Don't Take Us Literally"). It's a practice Nas used to launch the Firm (a supergroup that included Foxy Brown, AZ and Nature) in 1997 and Busta Rhymes implemented to introduce his Flipmode Squad in 1998.

Some argue that, unlike in other media, these artists worked together to achieve success, with one of them achieving notoriety first.

"They all come up together," Weiner said. "I assume these guys were all in a crew in the independent-label world. You don't have that in basketball or television, which are monopolized by the majors. In the rap world, however, we've developed an independent opportunity for people to shine without the guidance, finance and help of the majors.

"The majors probably see that if Eminem and Nelly sell 8 or 9 million copies, they'll probably go platinum with a featured artist associated with one of those acts, and they can exploit that through the independent channel. If you're Michael Jordan's or Michael J. Fox's homeboy, there's no middle place to enter the industry."

Regardless of an artist's standing, quality material still has to be the end result.

"Hopefully, people take the time to make the project dope," said the producer Hi-Tek, whose musical friends and collaborators include Talib Kweli and Mos Def. "Nobody wants to go back to working for the post office or Taco Bell."

It's unlikely the St. Lunatics or D12 will be frying tacos any time soon. The Lunatics' Free City will be at #28 on next week's Billboard 200 albums chart, having sold 46,000 copies its 10th week in stores. While these sales are impressive, they don't have quite the commercial sparkle of Nelly's Country Grammar, which sold 38,000 copies the same week, after more than a year on the charts.

D12's Devils Night sold 372,000 copies its first week, far short of the 1.7 million sales rung up by Eminem's The Marshall Mathers LP, but enough to easily top the albums chart. Two months later, it's still in the top 10, with sales of 90,000 copies last week.

Even if the D12 and St. Lunatics albums fail to generate as much excitement or sales as their mentors, rappers will certainly continue releasing offshoot projects. Dr. Dre, for one, has benefited from the success of his protégés, who range from Snoop Dogg to Eminem.

"There's more money in the rap game now, so it's more business-oriented," Hi-Tek said. "Everybody's trying to be an entrepreneur and take advantage of their whole situation while they can."

For an interview with St. Lunatics, check out "St. Lunatics: Crazy From The Heat."

For an interview with D12, check out "Slim Shady's Crew Stands Up."

• Eminem
• Nelly
• D12
• St. Lunatics

Nelly, Kim, LL, Sean Paul, More On Source Awards Red Carpet

• Nelly
• Lil' Kim
• LL Cool J
• Sean Paul
• Clipse

Nelly Rocks The Blender Sessions, 09.17.2003

• Nelly
• St. Lunatics
• Murphy Lee
• Tweet

Lil' Kim, Ludacris, Monica, Snoop, More On BET Awards Red Carpet

• Lil' Kim
• St. Lunatics
• Roscoe
• Clipse
• Floetry