Nelly Is Still Upset At Spelman College + Update: Former Spelman Students Respond

Earlier this week, rapper Nelly was interviewed by Marc Lamont Hill on HuffPost Live about his current album "M.O" and The Real Husbands of Hollywood. During the interview the topic Nelly's beef with Spelman College came up, which has the internet going crazy.

If you remember, Nelly's "Tip Drill" video stirred up so much controversy back in 2003. The video aired on BET's Uncut, which used to come on after hours that played an hour of uncensored rap videos. The video was really no different from other videos that aired on Uncut, a bunch of basically naked women shaking their behinds in front of the camera in a mansion by the pool during a wild party. What turned people's heads is when Nelly slid a credit card down one of the girls behind towards the end of the video.

Nelly caught a lot of heat from the video as well as the song "Tip Drill." In 2004, the Nelly Foundation put together a bone marrow drive in hopes of finding a match for Nelly's sister Jackie, who was diagnosed with Leukemia. He wanted to hold the drive at Spelman College in Atlanta, GA.

A group of Spelman apart of Spelman Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance (FMLA) students protested against the video and misogyny of women in the media and rap music. From what has been known over the years, Spelman College refused to allow Nelly to hold the bone marrow drive because they were enraged at him about the "Tip Drill" video.

In the interview with HuffPost Live, Nelly cleared that it was not the entire Spelman College that he had an issue with, and it was not the entire school that protested against him. He claims that Spelman College asked him if he would agree to having a panel discussion with addressing the issues of his video and the objectification of women before they held the bone marrow drive. Nelly's issue did not lie with the discussion, but the timing in which he said they wanted to do it.

It's evident that Nelly still has some strong feelings towards the situation, especially since his sister past away in 2005. I do believe that he should not blame Spelman College for the death of his sister and playing the blame game is an issue that he needs to make peace with.

As a current student at Spelman College I do think the topic is still relevant today, especially in seeing how the culture of the college has changed since the early 2000's, and even since I have been a student at the school. I believe that the topic will always be relevant to Hip-Hop in addressing the issues that do exist in the way women's images are portrayed in music and media. I think this situation gave Spelman students a negative representation in the media, having those believe that Spelman Women are strong radical feminist that protest against everything.

I support my Spelman sisters in believing in the beauty and worth of women. As black women, if we do not have the courage to stand for ourselves and have a voice to say what we feel, then who will be that voice for us? As a lover of music especially Hip-Hop it is difficult for me to say that I can agree with some of the choices to protest and ban certain things from college campuses.

As women we have choices to indulge in whatever it is that we want to. Never should we condone or allow ourselves or other women to be disrespected or objectified, but that does not mean that we cannot be lovers of music, including Hip-Hop. I agree and disagree with some of the thoughts Nelly shared with Marc Lamont Hill in the interview. He made good points and brought up some debatable topics.

Spelman College is an all-women's institution, but it is not an intuition that educates only one type of woman. If you are not aware of Spelman College, it's enriching education and beautiful campus of strong, black, educated women, then you should do your research. If you are also unaware of what the term feminist really means then I suggest you research that as well.

I have been a fan of Nelly's long before my days at Spelman and has watched him come a long way as a man and artist. Watch the interview below and share your thoughts! I hope the conversation can one day end the Nelly/Spelman beef.


UPDATE: Former Spelman Students Respond to Nelly's Interview. Watch here: