St. Lunatics member, Ali, took to Instagram to accuse Nelly of “hustling” the group.
In the post, Ali explained that he taught the group members how to rap and write. He also claims that he fought for Nelly to be featured on “Gimme What You Got.” Ali was then offered a solo deal which he turned down because it excluded the St. Lunatics. But he’s salty about Nelly not reciprocating the energy when it was his turn.
“Fast forward 1999: Ma$e Manager at the time (Cudda)…was introduced to us…and he immediately started separating the group. He wanted Nelly and City spud. They left with Cudda (went to Harlem),” he wrote. “The separation became The reality…They had left !!! We(The rest of the group) felt ‘HUSTLED’….we were *1 until, The opportunity was presented to be *2😔 ..they hustled us!!”
Ali alleges that when the Country Grammar rapper told him he doesn’t need him to write for him anymore after inking his deal with Universal. “Some kind of way I ended up going…I ended up helping him write…but got no credit!! Wow!! I got hustled!!” he continued.
It’s unclear where this stems from because Ali was featured on all but two of Nelly’s albums. Additionally, he has multiple credits on the diamond-selling album, Country Grammar. The St. Lunatics went on to sell a platinum album following his success.
Nelly swiftly denied these claims on St. Louis radio show What Up Doe. “There’s three people in this group that’s been a lunatic since day one: Nelly, Kyjuan, and City [Spud],” said Nelly. “We all went to school together. Alright? Cool. When we first started the Lunatics, Ali was not in this group. Stop me when I’m lying.”
He says that Ali and two other members originally partnered with the St. Lunatics as managers. “When they said the Lunatics was doing all the legwork and talent shows and all of that, that was us. He didn’t do that,” Nelly continued. “When we was going around town making a name for ourselves, doing the car wash, performing at the talent shows at [colleges], that was us, that wasn’t Ali. Ali did not perform with us. Either he thought he was too good or he didn’t perform with us. Either way, he did not perform with us. Just factuals. Actual factuals.”
Listen to the interview here.
