St. Louis got a small but real taste of Hollywood in 2000 when one of its favorite sons, rapper Nelly, snagged a key role in the indie flick “Snipes.” At the St. Louis premiere, Nelly rolled up in a blue Bentley and strolled down the red carpet escorting his mother, Rhonda Mack.
Sunday afternoon, the red carpet was rolled out again for the local premiere of “The Longest Yard.” Nelly was joined by the comedy’s other stars – Adam Sandler, Chris Rock and Burt Reynolds – at the benefit event.
In this remake of the 1974 Reynolds movie, the rapper plays convict Earl Megget, one of several prisoners recruited for a ragtag football team competing against the guards.
“I was a young guy trying to get my feet wet with ‘Snipes,’ finding my way, seeing if this acting thing was for me,” Nelly said in a phone interview. “‘Snipes’ was cool. I had a cool trailer, but I didn’t know better, and I made the best with what I had. For ‘The Longest Yard,’ I had a plush trailer with a DVD player, a lounger bed, a separate workout trailer. It was bangin’.”
Maybe Nelly, who remains one of music’s biggest players, is headed the way of Will Smith, Queen Latifah and Ice Cube, groundbreaking rappers who have found success at acting and now view their music careers as secondary.
If his movie career goes anywhere near his recording career, he’s set. Nelly’s debut CD, 2000’s “Country Grammar,” sold more than 9 million copies.
Nelly, 30, has no reason to start looking immediately at an alternate career, especially considering all his other businesses. He has an ownership stake in the Charlotte Bobcats basketball team, the Vokal clothing line and Pimp Juice beverage.
“I have loyal fans, but I don’t know how long I’m going to do rap,” said Nelly, pointing out that music sales are down.
“I don’t like to put others in my business, but me and Eminem are on the same page. We’ve been so high, the highest of the game. I wouldn’t say you get burned out. But you do look for new ways to challenge your energy, things that excite you more.”
“Music is 365,” he added. “You have to think about the album, record it, promote it, do videos, tour, then you do it all over again without getting much time to reflect.”
Nelly likes the way Smith and others do it, recording albums “at their leisure because they want to do it.”
Nelly says he re-evaluated his life after the recent death from leukemia of sister Jackie Donahue. He also has said he wants to spend more time with his two children.
