Nelly brings hip-hop to Purdue community

By Laura Pelner,
Vanessa Renderman
and Dave Stephens

Even though he only played five or six songs and the show ended abruptly, Purdue was glad to ride "wit" Nelly.

With four opening acts, including Toya, Alley Life and Sticky Fingas, Nelly and the St. Lunatics didn’t get on stage until almost two hours after the show started and by that time the crowd was dancing, yelling and chanting his name.

Running onto the stage, Nelly opened up with his first big hit, "Country Grammar," and students waved their hands and sang along. The Purdue crowd was surprisingly in to the show, which is uncharacteristic of the typically conservative audiences. Unlike past big concerts on campus, like the Smashing Pumpkins and Third Eye Blind where most of the audience remained seated, Nelly and his opening acts were able to keep the audience involved and enthused.

This show proved that rap and hip-hop can be successful at Purdue. Nelly offered a great performance and showed that rap music definitely has a place on campus. Fans danced and sang along to all of his songs, not just the ones that are played on the radio.

Nelly worked hard to get the crowd involved. Before he began the song "Ride Wit Me" he pulled two women from the audience on stage, sat them in chairs next to him and pretended to drive a car - thus, riding with him. But before the women joined Nelly on stage for an imaginary car ride, Nelly asked the audience about this weekend's "festival." He asked who had directions to Grand Prix and everyone screamed.

Nelly, who was dressed in a Purdue hat and No. 43 jersey, encouraged audience participation. At one point, before he performed "E. I.," Nelly had the crowd get out their cell phones. He said everyone who had a phone should call someone who wasn't at the show so he could hear what he was missing.

When Nelly looked up at the crowd he was surprised by how many people the Elliott Hall of Music could hold. He said the show was sold out.

The crowd at the show was diverse in age, made up of young teen-agers, college students and at least one member of the Dean of Students Office.

Besides reacting to Nelly's songs, the crowd also became involved in one of the opening acts - Sticky Fingaz, who used to be in the group Onyx. Sticky Fingaz drew the most response when he performed "Slam," an old-school rap hit.

The men who accompanied Sticky Fingaz threw items into the audience, including towels and videotapes, and he splashed water on the front section. Some members went as far as to walk into the audience and mingle.

When Nelly left the stage most people couldn't believe the show was over so soon. The audience yelled for an encore and chanted "Nelly" as the house lights came on, indicating that Nelly would not return. Finally, to make people realize the show was over, one of Nelly's crew members came back on stage and waved the crowd goodbye.

This show was definitely a success and a great start to Gala Weekend.

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