Nelly: How'd a kid from St. Louis rap his way to the top? With songs that sound like the perfect party

At the age of 23, St. Louis rapper Nelly is the reigning prince of the bikini-jiggling party anthem. It's next to impossible to get through a Saturday night in any city or suburb without hearing the heavy bass of "Hot in Herre" thumping out of a tinted car window. And while he rhymes dirty about pimps and hos, underneath he's really just a nice Midwestern guy with boy-band friends like Justin Timberlake (who makes a cameo on the track "Work It").

When his latest album Nellyville (Fo'Reel/Universal Records), the follow-up to his eight-million-selling debut Country Grammar (2000), came out this summer, it went to the top of the charts. It's easy to see why. In Nelly's world, as he raps on (continued from page 88) his title track, everyone gets VIP treatment: "Welcome to Nellyvilla, where all newborns get a half-a-mill' / Sans, get the sedan DeVille, soons they can reach the wheel / And daughters get diamonds the size of their age." Like Master P and Puffy before him, Nelly's a mogul in the making, with his own clothing line, Vokal, an upcoming film, Snipes, a TV show reportedly in development with Paramount, and enough platinum to sink a ship. The difference is Nelly is always a gracious host. He never lets success get in the way of the party.

JULIA CHAPLIN: "Hot in Herre" seems destined to be the next "Macarena." How do you craft the perfect party anthem?

NELLY: I make songs that people just want to get up and dance to. For "Hot in Herre" we were trying to create that perfect party. There has to be that one beat behind the track that everybody can step to. And a hook that everybody can really reach out to. You need to make people believe that you're really having fun. They got to feel like you're on it, like, "Man, he's kickin'!" Which is easy for me because when I'm in the studio, I'm happy. A lot of times we're all celebrating. We might have a few Coronas around, have a stench in the air a little bit. It just flows over into the music.

JC: Some musicians say that if a song sounds amazing booming out of a car stereo then it's a hit. How can you tell?

N: When we did "Country Grammar" and "Ride Wit Me" we had a little bit of a tester because we had finished the song in 1998, a year before we had a record deal. We were shopping "Country Grammar" and record executives would hear it and turn their noses up. But the people were loving it in the clubs and on local radio stations. Finally, we took it to Universal [Records] and they were like, "Yo, this is hot! Hit me off..."

JC: The track you did with *NSYNC's Justin Timberlake, "Work It," is such an unlikely collaboration. I mean, you're a rapper from the streets of St. Louis, and he got his start on The Mickey Mouse Club.

N: Did he? I like that. But let me say, you just get to know people. We've all done stuff as a child we may not be proud of.

JC: I'm trying to picture you guys hanging out together. Do you talk about hair gel?

N: No, man, we just chill. We met at different awards shows and backstage at concerts. But we really had a chance to sit down and talk when we performed together at the Superbowl last year. We spent a couple days rehearsing and we became friends, flat out.

N: Rappers make what's in, in. If we want to bring back something like Jordache, we just say it and the girls start wearing it. We have a lot of pull.

JC: Rap music uses brand references as a way of defining cool. On your last album you dropped props to everything from Range Rovers to Fendi. It's kind of like in and out lists in (continued from page 90) fashion magazines.

JC: You're hardly using any brand references at all on Nellyville. Is conspicuous consumption played out?

N: I try not to name too many labels--not because it's not cool, but because it starts getting political.

JC: Political?

N: You just become more aware of products and your power to promote certain things. I have my own label. If I don't promote anybody else's line, I'm going to promote that one, you know?

JC: So many rappers are working that slouchy, athletic look now. How do you keep your own look fresh?

N: By wearing clothes that are really expensive and really hard to find, like go back jerseys. Go back jerseys are like old jerseys. They have special stores that sell them, and you can look on websites. The Oscar Robertson basketball jersey is a good one right about now. And a Walter Payton football jersey. You need an original.

JC: Do you have any?

N: I have a few. I've got a Jerry Rice and a Joe Montana. It's like trying to get your hands on the original Fendi purse or something like that.

JC: Is the Band-Aid you always wear on the side of your face some sort of accessory?

N: Last year in Miami I was playing basketball and some guy's watch cut me. But I didn't think nothing of it. I was like, "Just put a Band-Aid on. That's what Mom says." But I still had photo shoots and all that. Before I knew it I had little kids running up to me with four or five Band-Aids on their faces. So now I wear it on the other side of my face for my little brother. I had a bunch of TV interviews today, so that's why I had it on. I just try to wear it when I think he might see it.