We spoke to
Nelly at
Bud Light's
House of
Whatever in
Phoenix, Arizona about his career, the (endless) rise of
Taylor Swift, and how he does his best work on the toilet, while some light jazz played in the background.
Here are a few highlights.
On
Country Grammar and the line, "Get a room in
Trump Tower just to hit for three hours/kick the bitch up put the room 'cause she used the word "
Ours:"
"It came from real life. It was cool. But you're talking about lines that were said in
2002. I was a young, thriving Nelly. Hopefully when you get in this game you build your own type of fan base and actually have fans that appreciate what you do and grow with you.
It's funny because it's a double edged sword. You hear so many people say, 'I wish you would do another
album like Country Grammar.'
And I say, 'You were in school when Country Grammar came out, right. You can't get that feeling back. The reason Country Grammar meant something to you is because you were in school at that time. It was the buddies that were around you, the moment for you. It was your theme music to what you were going through in that life.' You can't make that. You don't think
Michael would love to make another
Thriller? You think he wasn't tryin'? You can't, because it was that moment. It was music that was unheard at that time. And you can never get all of those elements back again."
On making new music:
"I don't chase it (past success); I just make music.
Music is creativity, it's a career; you up, you down, you up, you down. You can't have a career without an up and down.
Nobody is consistently up; well, probably Taylor Swift. Taylor Swift is probably the only one I see that is like, 'Yo, she's just gonna keep going (up), huh? Just gonna keep fuckin' goin'."
On when he's the most creative:
"
Songs pop up at the weirdest moments. You can be in a hotel, sittin' in a room, being in a club, bein' on the shitter. That's my office. I can think,
I've got the phone on the wall, set the laptop up on the dirty clothes hamper; I feel my freeest."
On what motivates him:
"I don't do that anymore. When people are like, 'Yo, what do you want to do?' It's not about that no more for me. Succeeding is not what drives you. I think what drives you is knowing where you don't want to be - I know where I don't want to be. That's the motivation to keep going. Because as long as I keep going, I'm not gonna be there. Because to say what I want to do, I've accomplished so much and I'm steady going, I just don't know, I just keep it movin'. But I know one thing that never changes; It's where you don't wanna be."
On growing up:
"I think we're all a product of what we know and I think that's what scares people sometimes. We all think that the next person should know what we know. And sometimes we think the other person may know more than what we know, so we take that wrong. And what I found out is that, if you open up dialogue with a lot of people, you can find out so much. And you just find out you're all the same but you're all very different. But you're all the same; you're just a product of what you go through."
On what makes Nelly, "Nelly":
"It was everything. When you get counted out so many times, you look for a sense of, 'Where am I going to channel and put this energy that I have to succeed?' Some kids take it and take it the wrong way. Some kids work hard, they study, they go to school, they graduate and become something, some kids do it through sports. But again, being a product of who you are, it can be a fuel.
Sometimes, too much fuel can blow you up. But majority of that time, if you take that fuel and use it right, you can go to the moon."
"You're not content. If you're content, you've already started the giving up process. This is a game of creativity, being competitive, it's a 'dog eat' and I love it."
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- published: 07 Feb 2015
- views: 3868