Nelly may be having legal issues with his old crew the St. Lunatics, but that didn’t stop them from performing together — or stop the superstar from joking about the case.
The “Country Grammar” rapper and his crew, plus J-Kwon and Chingy but minus St. Lunatics member Ali, performed on Sunday (October 6) as part of the American Music Awards 50th Anniversary Special.
They showed out during a medley that included “Air Force Ones,” “Ride Wit Me,” “Tipsy,” “Hot In Herre,” and more.
Check out some highlights of the performance below.
The day before the performance, Nelly made a crack about the lawsuit against him by the St. Lunatics, over what they claim is uncredited work on his smash Country Grammar album.
“STL INVADES @amas …!!! An anyone who has a problem with that ‘Sue’ me…!!!” he wrote in an Instagram post.
The St. Lunatics, consisting of Ali Jones (Ali), Torhi Harper (Murphy Lee), Robert Kyjuan (Kyjuan) and Nelly’s brother Lavell Webb (City Spud), filed the copyright infringement suit against Nelly on September 18.
The claim, which was made in New York Federal Court, asserts that the superstar didn’t credit them for their work on his 2000 album.
The claim revolves around their publishing and writing on the album.
This isn’t the first time St. Lunatics have spoken out against Nelly’s alleged impropriety regarding their artistic contributions to their work.
In 2023, Ali vowed he’d never perform with Nelly ever again because of money he owed the band.
Ali Jones sat down with VladTV for an interview in August of that year and opened up about Nelly allegedly going for months at a time without paying him what he was owed.
“I’ll say like it could be $90,000 or $70,000,” he estimated. “When that conversation happens I’ll get a check. It’ll be $13,000. Now you’ll be fucked up now because what is this $13,000 for? You owe me $91,000.”
He concluded: “What did you pay me for? At the end of it, it’s gonna be $66,000 because he’s far behind on the payments.”
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The St. Louis native blasted Nelly for the lack of communication on his end and then blamed an outsider for trying to divide Nelly from the group.
Ali went on to declare that he’s “never” going to reunite with Nelly or hit the stage to perform with him again in the future.
“A tiger ain’t never gon’ change his stripes,” he said. “I watched it for 20 years and I’m the butt of the joke because it took me 20 years to realize it. I could put a never, ever behind it will I ever hit the stage or do anything with him.”
The AMAs 50th show is currently streaming on Paramount+.
