Nelly is a musician, actor, and entrepreneur from the United States. Nelly, born Cornell Iral Haynes Jr., rose to prominence in the early 2000s with the album “Country Grammar,” which reportedly sold over 10 million copies worldwide.
Since then, he has gone on to release several albums, including “Dilemma” and “Hot in Here”, Sweat and Suit” in 2004, and Sweatsuit in 2005 as well as “Brass Knuckles” in 2008. In 2010, he released the album “5.0.”
His records’ quality earned him Grammy Awards in 2003 and 2004. Nelly had a successful acting career in addition to his singing career. He appeared as a supporting actor in the 2005 version of “The Longest Yard,” as well as four episodes of “CSI: NY” and 39 episodes of the reality television spoof show “Real Husbands of Hollywood” on BET.
Nelly’s popularity extended beyond music and television to include brand endorsements. During the peak of his career, he convinced many people to wear Nike Air Force 1s. The rapper said in an interview with Complex that Air Force 1 sneakers became one of his favorite pairs of kicks.
Nelly believes he is to blame for the success of the Nike-branded shoe. “Let me tell you something, everybody who got Nike shoe deals needs to be thanking us right now because we opened Nike’s eyes to a lot of that,” he said while Sneaker Shopping with Complex. They weren’t doing it at the time. They were basically saying, ‘They’re going to win regardless.'”
Nelly was laced by the popular sneaker brand on the tour although it did not last for long.
“Now, did they donate? he quizzed. “Yes,” he responded in the affirmative. “They did donate some to the tour. They did sponsor some of the things for the tour because one of our tours we came out [and] we had a big Air Force 1 that used to go across the stadium and things like that, which was really dope. They did load us. I didn’t know it was [for] a limited time.”
He also revealed how the price of Air Force 1s increased following the publication of his hit single from his “Nellyville” album in 2002. Prior to the publication of his song, the sneaker was selling for $59, according to him. After donning it in his video clip, it was selling for $100 eight months later due to rising demand.
“When we first started rocking Air Force 1s, they were $59.99. We did the song, and eight months later they were $100,” said Nelly, according to Complex. “Now, we ain’t get no residuals. So, Nike — yo, holler at your boy.”