Will Rapper Nelly achieve the lasting fame of Ray Charles?

By DEBORA SHAULISand JOHN PATRICK GATTA
VINDICATOR WRITERS
MUSIC LEGEND COMES TO THE AREA Sunday. Will that label be applied a few decades from now to the successful hip-hop star who also will make a local concert appearance on the same night?
The splendid credentials of Ray Charles precede him weeks before he takes his customary place behind a grand piano on a concert stage. Over the past decade, he's received Lifetime Achievement Awards at the Grammy Awards, Songwriters Hall of Fame, and Rhythm & amp; Blues Foundation's annual Pioneer Awards. In 1986 he was inducted among the first class in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Nelly's credentials, like his rap style, come fast and furious. His two albums have sold more than 8 million copies, while singles such as "Hot in Herre" have become party anthems across the world. He's also earned two Grammy awards. The St. Louis native may be a commercially viable entity at the beginning of the 21st century, but can he have staying power as an artist, or will he fizzle out among a hip-hop audience that seems always to be seeking new blood?
Expectation of fame
Local people in broadcasting and music sales say they like Nelly's music, but they don't expect his artistic longevity to compare to that of Charles.
"Ray Charles is legendary and classic; his music is everlasting," says Lynn Tolliver Jr., general manager of WRTK-AM Radio 1540 of Youngstown.
"We may never see another Ray Charles."
Nelly still has to prove himself to people such as Frankie Halfacre, general manager of WRBP-FM 101.9 of Youngstown.
"He may in the long run," Halfacre said.
That is, if Nelly doesn't run out of time.
"The majority of rappers have a life span of four albums," Halfacre said. "That's the way I see it."
At Soundcheck/Geo's Music, a store at 102 W. Federal St. in downtown Youngstown, shoppers will find both Nelly and Charles' CDs on the shelves. For co-managers George Case and Marty Griffith, however, putting Nelly and Charles in the same sentence is an apples-and-oranges comparison.
"Ray Charles could just play piano and sing for an hour, and people would love it," Case said.
Tolliver made a similar observation, adding "Can Nelly do that?"
Most rappers aren't instrumentalists; they perform to sampled beats. In fact, Case says "Hot in Herre" contains elements of a song by Chuck Brown & amp; the Soul Searchers, a Washington, D.C., dance band from the 1980s.
Crossover appeal
One thing Charles and Nelly have in common is the ability to make music with crossover appeal.
Bringing together elements from the gospel and blues genres, Charles -- who will play at B & amp;B Backstage in Boardman -- is credited as one of the creators of soul music. His exuberant style could be heard on such early 1950s classics as "I Got a Woman," "Drown in My Own Tears" and "Swanee River Rock," which crossed over into the pop charts.
The Georgia-born singer-songwriter displayed his diverse nature by fronting a jazz trio before his recording career, making country albums at various spots over the past five decades and releasing the timeless ballad "Georgia on My Mind."
But his most popular and well-known merging between gospel and blues into a newly forged sound remains "What'd I Say." The call-and-response vocals and lively arrangement remain a staple of his concerts. The British magazine Q recently named it among the "100 Songs That Changed the World." While discussing the background of the song, it quotes Paul McCartney, "When I first heard it I knew right then I wanted to be involved in that kind of music."
Compared with today, Tolliver said things were different when Charles was as popular as Nelly is now.
"Back then you had people who really sang, really played instruments," Tolliver said. "Their ability was far [more] supreme than today."
Nelly's party style
While he hasn't changed the artistic direction of hip-hop, Nelly has developed a party-friendly style that quickly made him a mainstream success and broke him out of the regional notoriety he developed around his St. Louis area homebase. Nelly will celebrate his current headliner status Sunday night at Cafaro Field in Niles.
In a Rolling Stone interview conducted in conjunction with his being named among the "People of 2002," he said, "People have enough to think about right now. I'm just trying to free their minds and have [a] little fun with it. I know you got your own problems; I got my own problems. Let's think of something else for a change."
Since he came upon the scene in 2000 with "Country Grammar," a track that you couldn't get out of your head unless you tried brain surgery, Nelly introduced to the music world a Midwestern style that brought together influences from the genre's East Coast and West Coast.
Not forgetting his background, he's recorded and toured with his former group, St. Lunatics. His Derrty Entertainment record label will release "Murphy's Law" by the youngest Lunatic, Murphy Lee in September.
His sophomore effort, "Nellyville," outsold its predecessor, thanks to "Hot in Herre," which has even been covered by jam band Widespread Panic.
Using his fame
Nelly hasn't merely sat back and counted all the dead presidents coming into his bank account. Not only has he developed a greater claim within the pop market via guest appearances (Kelly Rowland of Destiny Child's hit single "Dilemma"), but he's used his current heat as an artist to form other business ventures.
Like other hip-hop artists, he's produced a line of clothing. For men, there's the Vokal line. For the opposite sex, there will be the forthcoming Apple Bottoms. Nelly also joined forces with Nike to produce the limited edition Air Derrty line of shoe. Proceeds will go to 4Sho4Kids, a nonprofit foundation that aids children with development disabilities.
Because of his sister's battle with leukemia, he established Jes Us 4 Jackie, which raises money and awareness for the National Marrow Donor Program Registry.
Pressing on
What works in Nelly's favor right now is that "people want him," Tolliver said.
For longevity's sake, rappers like Nelly "need to lyrically grow. The way to do that is to put a lot of positivism into the music and to really believe in that," Case said.
Halfacre agrees. "People just get tired of rappers," he said. "There's some good rappers out there saying positive things."
It's been a while since Charles had a radio hit. WRBP still plays some of his jazz songs, Halfacre said.
At WRTK, "We do play a lot of Nelly because he's putting out new records," Tolliver said. Charles, however, isn't on the station's song list -- "probably because he's one of those Frank Sinatra-type artists. You don't have to play him to appreciate him or want to see him."
XDebora Shaulis is entertainment editor. John Patrick Gatta is a Vindicator correspondent.