Nelly Zine with Conrad Ruiz for LA Art Book Fair
Mr Cornell Iral Hayes Jr, also known as the rapper “Nelly”, has made a significant contribution to the radio Hip-Hop scene in the early 2000’s. After writing and performing Billboard hits such as Country Grammar and Shake your Tail Feather, world wide attention centered around the young handsome rapper, and most importantly, the band-aid on his face. Although some online explanations indicate that Nelly was covering up a basketball injury and later was wearing it as a symbol to honor a friend and collaborator ‘City Spud,’ two Los Angeles based artists dared to reinvestigate the most daunting unsolved mystery of their generation. ‘Sup Nelly? What’s Under that Band-Aid?” Explores the possibilities through visual narratives using collage and illustrative techniques.
-Ramsey Al-Baluchi,
Hip Hop Engineer, (2016), Dictated but not read
