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Waiting for Nelly in his sweltering hot hotel suite, I wondered if the lack of air conditioning was a joke cooked up by the record company reps.

Perhaps they thought it would be funny to see how long it would take each arriving journalist to say, 'it's hot in herre.' I resisted the temptation and thankfully, was summoned to another room to interview the super-fly rapper before heat stroke got the better of me.

Despite a long day of interviews, Nelly– real name Cornell Haynes– was alert and chipper, even offering to make me a coffee. I accepted, then asked him if his excitable temperament (he really was quite hyped– in a good way) was a result of a heavy caffeine intake.

“I used to hate coffee,” he revealed. “But when I was in high school, I worked part time in McDonald’s and that’s when I started drinking it. I used to have to open the store at like five ‘o clock in the morning so before I knew it, I was hooked on coffee.”

The chatty star then proceeded to quiz me on my heritage and seemed interested when I told him my folks are from Jamaica.

“I’ve been there a couple times,” he said enthusiastically. “But I didn’t go anywhere that wasn’t considered a ‘tourist’ part. I didn’t go to Kingston!”

Realising that this interview could easily be spent catching jokes, it seemed only right to veer the conversation (temporarily, at least) to the matter at hand: Nelly’s new album.

A hard-hitting, mostly up-tempo offering, it’s quite apt that the St. Louis representative called the album, Brass Knuckles. The lead single, Party People featuring Black Eyed Peas front-woman Fergie, is already enjoying radio spins.

And with the album featuring collaborations with artists including Usher, Chuck D, Akon and Snoop, it has the credentials to be another hit album for Nelly, whose last simultaneously released albums, Sweat and Suit debuted at no. 1 (Suit) and no. 2 (Sweat) in the Billboard chart.

But with Nelly having been out the music game for four years, does he still have what it takes to enjoy success in a business plagued by bootlegging and spearheaded by newer/ younger stars like T-Pain, Flo Rida and Soulja Boy?

“I hope so,” Nelly says. “I think I do. But it’s an ever-changing business and evolution is inevitable, so who knows? I don’t take for granted that because I enjoyed success before, I can do it again. But I’m confident.”

Continued from page 19

One tune that made me chuckle was the album track, Lie. Over a mid-tempo, melodic R’n’B groove– that sounds like it should be laced with sweet and loving lyrics– a female vocalist croons, ‘She said you tried to f*ck her’, to which Nelly retorts, ‘She’s a mother f***ing liar’! Apparently, Nelly is all too used to having his name mixed up in women’s tall tales.

“I probably get lied on the way a girl gets lied on,” he says. “You know how guys sometimes claim that they slept with a girl when they know that’s not true? Women do that to me. Women be talking about: ‘I slept with Nelly in Cape Kookamonga’. I’ll be like, ‘I’ve never even been to Cape Kookamonga’!’”

And it’s not just lying women who wind him up. Don’t get him started on the media outlets that print these lies…

“It does bother me that some of these blog sites can print whatever they want about entertainers and they’re never held accountable for printing lies. Over in The States, some people are fighting so hard to make music so censored and make artists accountable for everything that they say. And yet you look at some of these Internet sites and they just say whatever they wanna say!”

“They can ruin a person’s life with slander and lies and they get away with that. I don’t think that’s right. I think those sites should be held accountable for the things they say, as much as rappers are made to be held accountable for everything we say.”

Ah yes. Nelly has come under some serious fire in his time. Who could forget the infamous video for his 2003 song Tip Drill, which featured scantily clad women aplenty and that scene where a credit card was swiped between a woman’s bum cheeks.

Political commentators, women’s groups and numerous other activists came out in force to attack the video’s depiction of women as sexual objects. Any regrets, Nelly?

“Hell no. You only regret things when you believe you’ve done something wrong. I did nothing wrong. That video was created for adults, to be aired at an adult time. I didn’t make that video for kids. I didn’t force any female to be in the video or to do anything they didn’t wanna do. The girls in the video were all professional dancers– they worked in strip clubs. That’s what they did!”

He goes on: “The people who complain about rappers needing to set a better example, don’t wanna be accountable for raising their own children. How is it that my daughter’s never seen Tip Drill?”

“It’s because I have an understanding with my daughter. I tell her that she’s not allowed to watch BET (Black Entertainment Television) after a certain time. And to make doubly sure she doesn’t watch it, I block it after certain hours.”

“Take the time to block it, people! People wanna get mad at me, yet they’re not taking every precaution to make sure that their kids can’t access the things they don’t want them to.”

Ask Nelly how he’d feel if it was his daughter– in years to come (she’s only 14)– in such a video, and his answer is honest:

“Maybe I wouldn’t like it. But when she’s a grown woman, she’ll be free to make her own choices.”

For now though, Nelly is at the helm when it comes to raising his daughter and his nine-year-old son. His message to other parents? Raise your own kids.

“That’s it, sweetheart. And I think that’s what we’ve slowly and fa’showly been getting away from. Back in the day, our parents took responsibility and I’m doing the same. I’m not gonna leave it to Lil Wayne, or Jeezy or Amy Winehouse to raise my kids. I love those artists but it’s not their job to raise my kids. That’s my job. I’m sure this isn’t a new theory, so how about we just raise our kids? How about that?”

Nelly’s parenting responsibilities were doubled in recent years, when, following the death of his sister, he gained custody of her two children. Nelly’s sister Jackie Donahue died in 2005, following a lengthy battle with leukemia.

“I don’t know if you ever really get over something like that,” he says. “I’d never lost anyone so close to me. That was my first time of experiencing tragedy to that magnitude. When you’re dealing with leukemia, you’re literally watching a person die and it was truly heart-wrenching watching that deterioration.”

“It’s still tough but we’re getting through it. I say I have four kids because I have my nephew who’s 16 and my niece who’s 12. I’m like father to them, even though I’m not the father that’s there every day. But when I am home, I have one big Brady bunch and I love it. They all keep me going.”

And what of Nelly’s personal life? It’s been well-documented that he’s been dating R’n’B songstress Ashanti for several years. But Nelly is cagey in admitting it, going for the “I’m married to my music” response, when quizzed on his love life. I went for the more indirect prying approach and he laughed, as he said:

“Is there something you’re getting to? Something you wanna ask me?”

Well yes, Nelly. Can we talk about Ashanti?

“Yeah, of course we can. She’s a very sweet girl. Very pretty, sexy– she’s hot.”

Alright, smarty-pants. I can play the long game. Are Nelly and Ashanti friends?

“Yeah, we are.”

Good friends?

“Hell yeah!”

Very good friends?

“Hell yeah, we are! She’s a very talented young woman and… what can I say? We have fun together.”

These entertainers and their non-committal responses to relationship-based questions. But don’t worry, Nelly: this journo won’t be posting any lies about you on any Internet sites…

The single Party People is out now and the album Brass Knuckles is out next month on Universal Records

Published: 18 May 2008
Issue: 1321

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