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Friday, April 22, 2005
Nelly, T.I. and Fat Joe
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Hip-hop’s critics might have been surprised by Thursday’s concert featuring Nelly, T.I. and Fat Joe.
(Had they, you know, actually decided to go to hear something they don’t like.)
First, it started on time.
And when you’re talking about a genre where club shows usually start around 1 or 2 a.m., and even performances at traditional concert venues begin notoriously late, that in itself is noteworthy.
Second, its participants were kind to their fellow men.
Nelly welcomed Atlantans Big Boi of OutKast, Gipp, R&B group Jagged Edge and music everyman Jazze Pha on stage during his 90-minute set. (Which suffered a bit momentum-wise because of it.) And though this was rising Atlanta star T.I.’s first major show here since the release of his million-selling CD “Urban Legend,” he had no problem sharing the limelight with hometown sensation Lil Jon.
He even hugged Jon and told him he loved him at the end of their collaboration on “Stand Up.”
But surprising-in-a-good-way became simply surprising when it came to the make-up of the audience. Hip-hop is often derided for being misogynistic, yet the capacity crowd at the Atlanta Civic Center was filled with women.
Women, mind you, who had absolutely no problem screaming along with Nelly’s derogatory lyric about unattractive women with nice bodies, “It must be your [behind] ‘cause it ain’t your face.” Later they sang loudly and adoringly along with his Grammy-winning song “Dilemma:”
“I/love you/I love you/Nelly I/love you/ I do!”
That dichotomy illustrates the appeal of mainstream favorite Nelly and the more wickedly gifted T.I. Though their concert teemed with everything that enrages its critics — profanity, crotch-grabbing and oily, jiggling women — it was somehow tempered by their gift for making the lascivious sound lighthearted.
Great melodies and hooks are not always used for sugary goodness, ladies and gentleman.
And Nelly wasn’t about to apologize for that. From the stage, he addressed the controversy that erupted the last time he was to appear here, in April 2004, when his plan to have a bone marrow drive at Spelman College was met with protests by women upset by the sexually degrading images in his “Tip Drill” video. (The “must be your [behind]” line is from that song.)
“They [were] mad about videos,” he said in an obviously scripted conversation with fellow rapper Ali. “We [were] trying to save lives.”
“It wasn’t the whole school though,” Ali said.
“Not the whole school,” Nelly replied. “Not all the women.”
Certainly not the ones in attendance and on their feet throughout this show.
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