It’s difficult for videos that were released before YouTube existed — that’s pre-2005 — to amass a billion views, but a lucky few have done it, including clips for hits by Nirvana, Guns N’ Roses, Whitney Houston and 50 Cent. Now, you can add Nelly to that prestigious list.
The multi-platinum rapper’s number-one 2002 hit “Dilemma” has just made it into the Billion Views club. A collaboration with Kelly Rowland, whose career was then red-hot with Destiny’s Child, the song topped the the Billboard Hot 100 chart for 10 weeks that year and won a Grammy to boot. The video featured the legendary Patti LaBelle playing Kelly’s mother, since the song was based on a sample of Patti’s hit “Love, Need and Want You.”
“Dilemma” replaced Nelly’s own “Hot in Herre” at number one on the Hot 100. The song appeared on both his album Nellyville, and Kelly’s first solo album, Simply Deep, which also included the hit “Stole.”
In a statement, Nelly said of the achievement, “It is both humbling and what every artist hopes for, to see your work from 20 years ago still getting such love from fans old and new.”
He added that it’s “super dope that a song made before YouTube existed is getting so much support now,” and declared, “Shout out to Nelly fans and to my girl Kelly Rowland who helped make this song a hit when we made it and still a hit today!”
Nelly is currently on the pop charts with the song “Lil Bit,” a collaboration with his pals Florida Georgia Line. He’s working on a country-inspired album called Heartland that’s due out this summer.
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