Have you forgotten where you came from? Cornell Hayes, BKA Nelly, struggled throughout his childhood and most of his teens living in the slums of St. Louis. Determined to put his city on the map, Hayes used hip-hop to pave the way for other natives to stand up and prosper in the rap game. However, Thursday night at the Lucky Strike Bowling Alley of St. Louis Mills Mall, Cornell Hayes forgot where he came from.
Cedric The Entertainer and Eric Rhone held a celebrity event, inviting other local celebs, like Joe Torry, Murphy Lee and Slo Down. Regular folks were excited to catch the stars wandering the mall. A little after the event started, Cornell made a brief appearance – and eagerly waited to get back into his black Cadillac truck (one of many luxuries we helped him to purchase). Fans wondered why he was in such a rush, but still didn’t hesitate to first ask permission to receive autographs and take pictures.
“Hurry, man, and make it quick” is what he told one little boy. Parents stood still in shock and amazement of Cornell’s apathetic attitude. He didn’t even smile for pictures. On this slow Thursday night, the calm, tiny crowd of loyal fans refrained from bombarding him with hugs, rushing his vehicle or doing anything bold. Despite their courtesies, he didn’t even respond to a fan who asked him if he was all right, due to his blunt body gestures and sharp tone.
However, Cedric, Slo Down, KyJuan, Murphy Lee and Joe Torry had totally different attitudes regarding their fans. What was Cornell’s excuse for acting as if he didn’t even want to be bothered? Not once have I seen him act like this on a television, awards shows or at his Apple Bottom competitions. What was the deal?
Delores Durley
Frayetta Jackson
What was D. Shante talking about? I agree with the Positive Spirited Black Woman in her response to D. Shante’s review of our people during the India.Arie concert. My family – including four sisters, six children and eight teenaged girls – all enjoyed ourselves very much. My African-American people really made me proud. We represented! There were so many whole families there. There were no hoochie mamas everywhere or thugs present. Of course, they were there, but they were not the majority. It was nothing like the May Day Parade. India gave a superb performance! The children were singing along. We showed that we don’t only support rap artists! Of course, they probably didn’t expect to make us that happy! They probably didn’t expect or want so many of us to show up, but we did!
Still in the Pink
D. Shante responds to readers about Nelly and India.Arie. In response to the Nelly letter. First of all kudos to Nelly and all the celebrities who showed up, including Anthony Anderson (who got his clown on with Ced), Dwayne Martin and Terri J. Vaughn (a darling). I’m sure Nelly didn’t mean to snub anyone. I’ve seen him reach out to fans several times. But a lot a lot of celebrities like Nelly are always bombarded: sign this, listen to that, pose here, so on and so forth. And mind you this isn’t just when you witnessed it, but just about every single time he hit the streets. The man has hardly any leisure or normalcy time. So imagine if everywhere you went people were up in your face. Yeah, it’s a part of being a celebrity and we buy his records, but I still think it could be very overwhelming. In your letter you said he acted as if he was in a rush and didn’t want to do it, BUT HE DID! That’s the point. And who knows where he had to go or what was going on with him? He’s a celebrity, but at the end of the day, he’s a human a being like the rest of us. On to sister girl still in the pink. Sister, just because you didn’t personally witness said occurrences yourself, doesn’t mean they didn’t happen. Amen? And who cares what people do at a rock concert and how it compares to black concerts. What’s your point? Certainly, you’re not saying it’s okay to act bad if white people do? Anyway, you do realize that there was almost a riverfront full of people at India.Arie’s concert, and you probably missed what I saw, and vice versa. There were all kinds of people there: families, thugs and hoochies. My only problem was the people who ignored the sign that said, “do not sit in the isle.” People sat there anyway and wouldn’t move when B&D staff asked them, so they had to call the police on them. I was sitting near that happening. Wish it wouldn’t have happened, but it did sister. Glad you didn’t have to witness it. And I’m glad the police didn’t bust any heads, but perhaps you would’ve at least heard about in other news media – and perhaps believed it. Peace.