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TOUR DATES AND NEWS

Nelly - ALL STATES 7/28/2001 tbd Show Atlanta Phillips Arena 7/29/2001 tbd Show St. Louis Riverport Amphitheater 7/30/2001 tbd Show Minneapolis Target Center 8/1/2001 tbd Show Kansas City Sandstone Amphitheatre 8/2/2001 tbd Show Oklahoma City Myriad Arena 8/3/2001 tbd Show San Antonio Verizon Amphitheater 8/4/2001 tbd Show Houston Compaq Center 8/5/2001 tbd Show Dallas Smirnoff Center 8/8/2001 tbd Show Holmdel PNC Bank Arts Center 8/9/2001 tbd Show Philadelphia Tweeter Center at The Waterfront 8/10/2001 tbd Show Boston Tweeter Center 8/11/2001 tbd Show Wantaugh Jones Beach Ampitheater 8/13/2001 tbd Show Toronto Air Canada 8/14/2001 tbd Show Columbus Polaris Amphitheater 8/16/2001 tbd Show Cincinnati Riverbend Music St. Lunatics 7/28/2001 tbd Show Atlanta Phillips Arena 7/29/2001 tbd Show St. Louis Riverport Amphitheater 7/30/2001 tbd Show Minneapolis Target Center 8/1/2001 tbd Show Kansas City Sandstone Amphitheatre 8/2/2001 tbd Show Oklahoma City Myriad Arena 8/3/2001 tbd Show San Antonio Verizon Amphitheater 8/4/2001 tbd Show Houston Compaq Center 8/5/2001 tbd Show Dallas Smirnoff Center 8/8/2001 tbd Show Holmdel PNC Garden State 8/9/2001 tbd Show Philadelphia Tweeter Center at The Waterfront 8/10/2001 tbd Show Boston Tweeter Center 8/11/2001 tbd Show Wantaugh Jones Beach Ampitheater 8/14/2001 tbd Show Columbus Polaris Amphitheater 8/16/2001 tbd Show Cincinnati Riverbend Music 8/17/2001 tbd Show Charlotte Verizon Wireless Ampitheatre 'Summer In The City', will be on a movie soundtrack and it will be the first single off the soundtrack. It was also have a video to go along with the movie. Nelly's Studio On Wheels Heading To Nellyville Rapper working on new tracks while on 'TRL' tour.

Jaunting from state to state on MTV's "TRL" tour, Nelly is giving new meaning to "ride wit me." He's not just picking up girls anymore on excursions with his squad the St. Lunatics. Rap's current Billboard king is traveling with engineers, too, to make sure his career stays on point.

"I got a studio bus now, so we rolling around making hits," Nelly said Wednesday at the tour kickoff in Albany, New York.

currently working on his second solo album, Nellyville, which he hopes to get out by Christmas, St. Louis' biggest banner bearer said he's going to give people an up-close account of how his life has changed since blowing up in the music game.

"You hear a lot of that '[he says] nursery rhymes' sh--. What, you mad because you ain't think of it?" — Nelly

"I'm just gonna tell them how it's going for me now," Nelly said in his St. Louie drawl. "If this was my town, this is how it would be. I feel the good and I feel the bad parts right now."

Although Nelly says fame's upside far outweighs the downside, he has found out there is a price to pay for fame and fortune.

"Success breeds greed, hate and envy," he said. "You gotta watch out for all that. People don't understand what you go through. People gotta understand that it is a job you do and you work harder than the average nine-to-fiver, although your benefits are greater."

Reaping the spoils of consistently staying in the top 20 of the Billboard 200 album chart, Nelly admits his ride has been a little dampened by all the whispers of his detractors, who chalk his sales up to luck and say his lyrics are far from complex.

"You hear a lot of that '[he says] nursery rhymes' sh--," the rapper said. "What, you mad because you ain't think of it? I turn on the videos and I hear a thousand nursery rhymes. That ain't how I did it though. I didn't just ... this is St. Louis. We on the corner like 'E.I. n---a!' We on the basketball court and hit that [jump shot] on that a-- and be like 'E.I. back up!' That's how it goes down. It ain't like I read a book or something and pick a chorus."

For all the flack he may get for his lyrics, he's been getting compliments for rhyme delivery. After all, imitation is the biggest form of flattery. Although he's not the inventor of the style, Nelly has taken the sing-songy rap flow to new heights, and his popularity has caused many of his peers, like Ja Rule and Q-Tip, to further explore their crooning skills.

"When you have something that comes out and does really well," he said, gathering his thoughts, "it's not just one element to it. They take the singing element like 'That's it. That's the element.' No, that's not it. It's a whole formula. If you heard me in the booth you'd be like 'How did it come out like that?' Each track, I spit it differently so when you put it all together it comes out hot."

Nelly, who is hoping his new single, "Batter Up," pushes his album to 10 million units sold ("If I get that diamond award St. Louis is gonna have the biggest block party ever!"), said he's drawing on different inspirations for his new album.

"It's a different focus," he said. "Country Grammar was made from Nelly chilling at home every day. Nelly on the block, chillin' with his partnas. Nellyville is something different. I can't make Country Grammar again. I would never try to make Country Grammar again. That's something that was done and did. Now I'm on the road constantly. I'm seeing big things. I'm eating with big people who I never thought I would see before."

Nellyville  LP.

"I'm working out my [solo tracks] and songs with the group," he said of the project's current status. "I got a few people in mind though. I'm definitely feeling Outkast right now. You'll definitely feel that knocker. You might catch Jagged Edge back on my sh--. I been hollerin' at my man [R.] Kelly, trying to get this Midwest thing together. I just did the "Feelin' on Your Booty" video with [Kelly] in Miami and hollered at him about it. It's looking real good right now. It's just our timing."

Time is something Nelly — who said his movie "Snipes" is scheduled to come out next spring — is trying his best to manage.

"Hopefully we can get that one out before November," he said about Nellyville's first single, which he hasn't picked yet. "We in the studio now but I'm not rushing it. It don't take me long anyway. I did the Country Grammar album in two weeks. It's just me getting in there and not doing nothing else. I was hungry. You a ni--a from St. Louis and you ain't doing nothing, now I got a career. I just have to maintain."