Hip Hop Vibe Staff Writer
In 1999, Nelly signed a major deal with Universal Records, which was a 50/50 partnership. The deal not only landed Nelly a major label record deal, but also created Derrty Ent. Early in his career, Nelly sold millions of records. He was one of the highest-selling artists of the 2000s.
5.0 was the first album from Nelly in the 2010s. The sales of the album have proven Nelly is definitely not in 2000. Where he sold over 1 million copies in his first week off his debut album, he only sold 63,000 copies his first week on this album. Nelly said a record deal is a 50/50 deal, but Universal did not do their half.
The top priority on Universal Records is Young Money. The debut album from Young Money rapper Nicki Minaj was also released earlier this week. Her album sold over 400,000 copies in its first week, but Nelly has barely sold records. Nelly feels as if he has been placed on the backburner for these artists and he said he thinks his records were undershipped.
Despite the high sales of his "Just a Dream" single, Nelly's album has not sold and it is his second album in a row to have this perplexity.