Music
Nelly streams are up 200% following $2.4 million tax bill
by Jeremy Mersereau
September 16, 2016
Fans are streaming Nelly cuts on a loop to #SaveNelly in his hour of financial need.
Missouri rapper, distinguished indoor meteorologist, and Microsoft Excel texter Nelly is no longer the cultural force he was circa 2000-2005, but it appears nobody told the IRS: back in August, Nelly was hit with a federal tax lien of $2.4 million. Nelly, seeing the bill for the first time: “it is getting hot in here” (I’m guessing). Turns out buying warehouses’ worth of purely ornamental band-aids will eventually catch up with you.
What does a once-chart-topping rapper do when staring down the barrel of financial ruin? Well, it definitely helps if you were popular during the coming-of-age of the technological adepts in Generation Y. Energized by a calculation from SPIN about how many digital streams of “Hot In Herrre” it would take for Nelly to pay off his debt (between 208 and 402 million, if you’re wondering), Nelly’s (probably former) fanbase did the needful, and the #SaveNelly and #HotinHerreStreamingParty movements were born. Or, as Daniel here puts it:
Earning Generation Y’s affection back in their gawky tween days is paying off: Spotify reports that Nelly streams are up 200% this week over last, which means Nelly could be seeing the way out of financial ruin… provided Gen Y’s attention doesn’t waver on over to a jack-less Apple juicer or something.
Of course, now that the pop cultural waters have been sufficiently chummed by the internet, bigger media sharks have got the scent:
Hopefully the newfound Nelly riches manage to trickle down all the way to guy with the mask in the St. Lunatics. Where’s that guy’s hashtag? #SaveStLunaticsMaskGuy.
