Nelly’s favourite rap group ever: “No disrespect to Run-DMC”
Whether it’s A Tribe Called Quest, Three 6 Mafia or Outkast, many rap groups have shaped the sound of hip-hop today. There isn’t a singular group that impacted the genre more than another; rather, it is a matter of preference. For Nelly, there is a group he considers better than the rest, but that doesn’t mean any disrespect to anyone else.
Nelly grew up in St. Louis, Missouri and experienced his teenage years in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It was around this time that NWA were prominent with their two albums, Straight Outta Compton and N*ggaz4Life, while releasing iconic songs like ‘Straight Outta Compton’ and ‘Fuck Tha Police’. For this reason, it doesn’t get any bigger than them.
Despite his preference, he acknowledges those who came before them, like Run-DMC. “NWA is the greatest rap group of all time! Hands down for me,” he told Vibe. “I know it’s up for debate, and no disrespect to Run-DMC. No disrespect to none of them, but the influence upon which they had politically, socially on the world and on me was powerful.”
In his opinion, NWA’s group members, Dr Dre, Eazy-E, Ice Cube, DJ Yella, and MC Ren, each had an abundance of talent and brought a lot to the table. “I feel like a group is as strong as each member, and if you look at each one, you see they were all stars,” he said. “I can remember where I was when all that shit was happening and how we used to make little videos like them.”
They were one of the reasons he started rapping. Nelly was inspired so much by NWA that he and his friends used to emulate the iconic group, trying to become the St. Louis version of the Compton legends. “A friend of mine, his mother went and got a video recorder and we used to set it up on a big ass tripod back when they had VHS tapes and we used to do all videos,” he recalled. “Me, him, his cousin, his uncle, we used to be the St. Louis NWA.”
Nelly was experiencing similar issues in his own city, considering NWA as way more than a musical act. He saw them as a lifestyle, which resonated with him and the rest of America, proving to be a force against police brutality and racial profiling. It says a lot when a group’s ethos remains just as relevant decades later.
Just being able to break into the industry was enough for Nelly, let alone becoming one of the best-selling rappers of all time with hits like ‘Ride Wit Me’, ‘Hot in Herre’, and ‘Dilemma’. He once noted Dre’s influence in the careers of Eminem, 50 Cent, and Snoop Dogg, claiming he never had that type of support on his side. “I’m saying all these blood, sweat, and tears were built,” he said. “You talk about getting it out of the mud. All of what I was able to achieve was built with these hands, my crew, and my city.”