Nelly's 4th Annual Black & White Ball In St. Louis Recap

Courtesy of the St. Louis American

Last night (Sun., Dec. 6) at 1 a.m., the Chase Park Plaza had to shut the party down to make it stop at Nelly’s 4th Annual Black and White Ball. When staff informed Nelly and the powers that be it was time to call it a night, people were still going hard.

They were on the stage and on the floor rapping’ and dancing along to some of the songs that Nelly and the St. Lunatics made famous as well as hits from back when they first started on the scene mixed with current hip-hop hits. Folks got down, but the whole point of the event was to help students move forward with their education.

Earlier in the night, Nelly announced – along with the Black Student Union of Lindenwood University – the launching of the 2010 Black and White Scholarship Program that would provide a full tuition scholarship for two deserving students.

“I feel like I don’t have a choice to do this,” Nelly said about his decision to use his star power on behalf of the community. “This is something that I must do.”

In the short formal element of the program, Nelly kept his comments brief. He was preceded by video footage of scholarship recipients expressing their thanks and gratitude to the Grammy-Award winning multiplatinum selling rapper for aiding them in their educational endeavors.

Following the short formal program, partygoers got down to business and hit the dance floor while Mario, Nelly and the St. Lunatics performed on stage for the duration of the night.

Jermaine Dupri, Mario, Bill Bellamy joined dozens of local notables – including legendary athlete Jackie-Joyner Kersee – were among the evenings special guests.

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KMOV St. Louis