“Love In Me”: Nelly revealed that he “picked up the mic and put the drugs down.” For several years, the St. Louis rapper walked the straight and narrow path, scoring number-one hits, three Grammy Awards, platinum albums, movie roles, and putting his Saint Lunatics crew on the map, all while gaining fans in both the hip-hop and Country Music industries. Despite his success, the veteran artist has faced significant challenges in recent years.
Although known as one of hip-hop’s good guys, his image began to crack early on. It started with the music video for his song “Tip Drill.” The song talks about a woman with an unattractive face but a nice body, and in the video, Nelly controversially slides a credit card between a woman’s buttocks.
In 2004, Nelly was set to host a bone marrow drive at Spelman College, a historically black women’s college, through his 4Sho4Kids Foundation. The event was deeply personal as his sister Jackie had been diagnosed with leukemia, and he was raising awareness about the need for marrow and blood stem cell donors among minorities. However, when Spelman students saw the “Tip Drill” video, they pressured Nelly to cancel the event. Spelman’s president of student affairs told MTV.com, “Spelman is concerned about the negative images of women in popular culture, particularly the misogynistic lyrics and images that constantly portray women in a sexual nature.” Even Morehouse College students joined Spelman’s protest against Nelly’s event. Before Nelly could attend, his foundation canceled the bone marrow drive due to the backlash. Tragically, his sister passed away from leukemia a year later.
During the first eight years of his career, Nelly released five studio albums, working tirelessly as if there was no tomorrow. But then, some wild allegations started popping up online. Nelly has always said he was a skinny teenager with a high metabolism, only bulking up later when he started lifting weights. However, in 2008, a well-known substance dealer claimed that Nelly had some artificial help to achieve his muscular physique. According to Radar Online, the dealer gave the police a list of celebrities, including several rappers, who he said were using illegal bodybuilding drugs. Nelly’s name was supposedly on that list.
Nelly fired back, saying, “The only people who say that are people who don’t work out. Anyone who goes to the gym knows that what Nelly is doing is nothing.” He explained that he just bought supplements and Muscle Milk from his local GNC, and that was it.
Were the allegations just nonsense? It’s hard to say, but three years later, a club promoter named Slim took to Twitter after a personal falling out with Nelly and spilled all his secrets. Slim claimed that Nelly lost all his money due to a severe gambling problem, spent a lot on his then-girlfriend Ashanti, and was in danger of losing his home to foreclosure. On top of that, Slim alleged that Nelly was addicted to steroids and abusing a white powdery substance. Nelly hit back on Twitter, insisting the allegations were false, even writing, “I know some hoping that foreclosure statement is true but I’m sorry epic fail,” despite the typos. This was the second time Nelly had to defend himself against drug allegations.
But it gets even messier. After their Twitter feud, BET.com reached out to Slim for more details on his claims. Slim doubled down and even challenged Nelly to take a lie detector test. As far as we know, Nelly didn’t take him up on the offer. Slim’s financial allegations might have had some truth, though, because seven months later, American Express sued Nelly for a little over twenty thousand dollars in unpaid charges.
Let’s fast forward to October 2012. Nelly was on tour, cruising through a small town in Texas, when his bus hit a checkpoint. The cops searched the bus and found 36 bags of heroin, over 10 pounds of marijuana, and a loaded .45 caliber pistol. Was Nelly just touring, or was something else going on? The authorities couldn’t be sure. A guy named Brian Jones, who was riding along and rumored to be Nelly’s bodyguard, took the blame for everything. He got arrested, and Nelly walked free. Nelly quickly took to Twitter, calling Brian a longtime friend and employee, and vented his anger, saying he was “mad as hell” that someone he’d known for over a decade would risk his life and career like that. Oddly enough, Brian later pleaded not guilty to the charges. We don’t know what happened with his case, but if he did any jail time, it wasn’t much, because by 2015, he was back with Nelly.
In 2015, the drama continued in Tennessee. Nelly’s bus got pulled over for not having a required Department of Transportation sticker. When the officer smelled something suspicious, he searched the bus and found a bag of crystal rocks that tested positive for meth, a bit of marijuana, and some guns. Nelly was arrested for felony marijuana possession and having paraphernalia, as the cops found about 100 small Ziploc bags often used for selling substances. Brian Jones was arrested again for firearm possession. Was this the same Brian Jones from before? It sure looks like it. Nelly’s lawyer told CNN that Nelly had nothing to do with the contraband, pointing out that more than 15 people had access to the bus and that the supposed meth was actually Molly. Nelly managed to cut a deal, and the felony charges were dropped. His record was cleared after 11 months of probation. As for Brian, his fate remains a mystery.
After that ordeal, Nelly had more issues to face. In 2016, he got hit with a federal tax lien for unpaid taxes dating back to 2013. TMZ reported that Uncle Sam was demanding nearly $2.5 million. On top of that, the state of Missouri claimed he owed them close to $150,000 in unpaid state taxes. Sources close to Nelly told TMZ he was working with tax authorities to resolve the issues. A writer from Spin Magazine even suggested that Spotify users stream Nelly’s music to help him pay his tax debt. Streams of his songs reportedly jumped by 90%, but it would take hundreds of millions of streams to make a significant dent in his debt. At least people tried.
Then, in October 2017, while on tour with Florida Georgia Line in Washington, Nelly was taken into custody after a 22-year-old college student named Monique Green accused him of assaulting her on his tour bus parked in a Walmart parking lot. She claimed that after the incident, Nelly pushed her off the bus and threw $100 at her. Despite being in a long-term relationship with Chantel Jackson at the time, Nelly admitted to having consensual relations with the alleged victim. According to TMZ, Nelly stated that Monique got upset because she thought he was involved with one of his dancers who was also on the bus. Nelly was released a few hours later without charges. Following his release, he took to Twitter and wrote, “I am beyond shocked that I have been targeted with this false allegation.” Prosecutors later said they wouldn’t proceed with a criminal case because Monique decided not to cooperate. She later filed a civil suit for damages, including allegations from two anonymous women in England who claimed the rapper acted inappropriately towards them in 2016 and 2017. Nelly and Monique settled their lawsuit in September 2018, with the terms kept confidential. Nelly’s lawyer told TMZ that no money was exchanged as part of the case’s dismissal. Authorities also halted an investigation into one of the English women’s claims due to her failure to testify.
In the summer of 2021, Nelly ended his seven-year relationship with Chantel, putting an end to their rocky times. Things were quiet for him until February 2022, when he accidentally uploaded an intimate video to his Instagram story. The video was quickly deleted, and Nelly issued a statement to TMZ, apologizing to the young lady and her family, explaining that it was an old video that was never meant to be made public.
In January 2023, a video of the rapper performing live in Melbourne, Australia, went viral, causing quite a stir. Some people thought he looked like he was on something, while others were just entertained by his lively performance. After the video gained traction, Nelly shared a funny reenactment by comedian Spice Adams on his Instagram story. But not everyone was amused. Flesh-n-Bone from Bone Thugs-N-Harmony told TMZ that he’s proudly sober and hopes other rappers, including Nelly, follow suit. He warned about the dangers of drugs being laced with fentanyl, citing the heartbreaking losses of Bone Thugs’ producer DJ U-Neek’s two sons and Gangsta Boo, who recently died from a suspected overdose. Nelly hasn’t responded to Flesh’s comments yet.