Nelly is an American singer, actor, and entrepreneur. Born Cornell Iral Haynes Jr, Nelly burst into the music scene in the early 2000s with the album “Country Grammar” which reportedly sold over 10 million copies globally.
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.”
The quality of his albums saw him win Grammy Awards in 2003 and 2004. Besides music, Nelly also had a flourishing acting career. He played a supporting role in the 2005 remake of the film, “The Longest Yard,” and also featured in four episodes of “CSI: NY,” as well as 39 episodes of the reality television parody show, “Real Husbands of Hollywood” on BET.
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Nelly’s influence was not only limited to music and Television, he was also a brand influencer. At the height of his career, he got many people to wear Nike’s Air Force 1s. In an interview with Complex, the musician revealed that Air Force 1 sneakers became one of his favorite pairs of kicks.
Nelly believes he was the reason for the popularity of the Nike-branded shoe. While Sneaker Shopping with Complex, he noted, “Let me tell you something, everybody that got Nike shoe deals need to be thanking us right now because we opened Nike’s eyes to a lot of that. At that time they weren’t doing it. They were just basically on some, ‘They gone 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 went on to disclose how the price of Air Force 1s went up following the release of his hit single on his “Nellyville” album in 2002. According to him, the sneaker was selling at $59 prior to the release of his song. Eight months later, it was selling at $100 during to growing demand after rocking it in his video clip.
“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.”
