Original subtitles

[announcer] Previously onNelly and Ashanti: We Belong Together.

[Nelly] Back in St. Louis, relaunching Apple Bottoms.

-[photographer] -[Nelly]

This ain't the Vibemagazine shot, we just need some press, man.

I don't think the creative

was where I wanted it to be, basically.

It's a man with a woman's line, like, don't set me up.

Are we the fuck on the same team around here?

[Ashanti] I don't know how y'all feeling about staying in St. Louis,

or, like, being at a distance, but...

It's hard, so I don't even know, like, where we gonna end up.

-What y'all doing? -[indistinct], Ashanti. We trying to come to New York.

We ain't never been around New York for real, like, we trying to see New York.

If the kids love the city,

maybe I can get Nelly to spend a little bit more time in New York.

Being a girlfriend and being a wife is two different things.

Marriage is putting them before you and thinking about them first,

and they should be thinking about you first.

To death do you part, so that means I'm going to jail or I'ma die.

What?

[upbeat music playing]

The mall wasn't that crowded. I'm surprised.

Sometimes it's a lot of people, and sometimes it's dead.

-I like it when it's dead. -Yeah.

Just walk around and grab whatever.

We lucked out, though. I think it was pretty cool.

-In and out. Boom. -Definitely.

Okay, so Christmas is coming.

Everything is kind of, like, still up in the air.

Like, you know, I was talking with the kids,

and obviously they all want to come to New York as well.

[Shawn] I just want to walk through Central Park.

Yeah, Central Park is beautiful.

-Radio City Music Hall. -Radio City, all day.

-Yeah. -I mean, we got the plan.

-I'm with it. -Who paying for the ticket? -Not me.

But we'll see. I mean, but either way, it's going to be all of the family.

-Together. -Together.

-Wherever we are. -Wherever we are.

But one thing for sure, this is KK's first Christmas.

-It's his very first Christmas! -Yay.

-First Christmas. -Oh, my God.

I've watched you adding and putting stuff together

and getting on this website and pulling this.

-So, he's set. -Listen.

Being an only child for a long time, you know,

my sister and I are eight and a half years apart.

Some would say that I was a little bit spoiled for a little while.

I ain't even front. Some Christmases, I ain't get shit.

That's just facts.

But because now she brings that festive side

that I didn't have growing up

and we get to merge it both together.

-And we'll be having some dope-ass Christmases. -Mm-hmm.

Ma, turn the train on.

-It's Christmas time. -[train whistling]

-You making me one? -Yeah.

You can put mine in the paper cup.

I don't need one of them old fancy mugs.

Let me just-- I like mine to go.

-[Rhonda] You want some cream in it? -[Nelly] Just a little bit.

Well, I was talking to Sha, we were talking about

where we were going to kind of spend Christmas at.

We thought about taking everybody up to New York

because I know last Christmas she spent down here.

-Yeah. -And she has a lot of family up in New York

that she would love to spend Christmas with.

But I thought about it and I know, like, it'd be tough.

I didn't want to take you away from Granny,

and with Granny being as seasoned.

[Rhonda laughs]

-I don't want to say [indistinct]. -[indistinct].

-No, but I-- -I get what you're trying to say.

I know that traveling-- yeah.

Like, traveling ain't the best thing for her, so...

Right. Maybe we'll get to a point...

No, I mean she understood.

All right, well, I'm finna get ready to go.

I'm out.

It's Black and White Ball night.

Black and white ball is something I do in St. Louis traditionally.

I raise money to send kids to school.

[announcer] [indistinct] in the community so much.

How about a nice hand for Nelly?

[Nelly] Been doing it for 17 years now.

Kind of like one of those parties that brings the city together collectively.

And we get to have a great night. We raise money for charity.

We've had some great people to come through there.

From Janet Jacksons to the Ashantis

to the Don King's, DL Hughley's, Ron Isley, Ozzie.

Yeah, a lot of St. Louis greats.

[interviewer]

Yeah, Polow was on the mic talking about Seal the Deal.

I want y'all to say, seal the deal!

[all] Seal the deal!

And daddy was on my belly, so people took that as I'm pregnant.

And then it turned out you was pregnant, so they took that as the announcement.

But we didn't freaking know shit.

-She hadn't took no tests. -Mm-mm.

We had no idea.

So, this year...

All the pregnancy rumors are starting again. And it's not true.

Let me tell you something. This business is crazy.

Because if they don't know what's going on, they're going to make it up.

Despite everything, I think it's going to be

a lot of fun this year at the Black and White Ball.

Last year was amazing. We had so much fun.

-Yeah, it was good. -But this year--

No announcements this time around.

Because it hit the net before you got down the steps from the stage.

-Oh, my God. I think-- -That was crazy.

I know they're going to be tweaking that red carpet.

People are turning in just for that, I think, you know?

-Yeah, I'm going to have to hit Polow too. [laughs] -Yeah.

Because, you know, Polow going to try to get that mic.

-[laughs] No announcements. -Mm-mm.

[hip-hop music playing]

It's Black and White Ball night. And my wife is not here.

She said, "Babe, what can I do?"

I said, "Sweetheart, the only thing I need you to do for me

is just be on time, 'cause it's going to be hectic."

Is he ready? Is he, like, looking for me?

[Bri] Yes, honey, you need to come.

-[Tina] He's ready. -Oh, my God.

I mean, if he's ready before me, this is going to be bad.

[Tina] Hair and makeup will be quick.

You already decided what kind of hair you're going to have.

And I got to get my nails done. Ooh.

We're a little worried that it's starting to get late. But sometimes things happen.

You put your charm on.

He ain't going to hear none of that.

You think you have three hours, but you only have one.

Sir, can we please go a little bit faster?

-Yeah. -Thank you so much.

We're from New York, so we don't care, just go.

[*]

-[Nelly] [indistinct]. -We're close.

[sighs]

What time is it?

[clock ticking]

Check what time is he planning on shutting down the red carpet or whatever the case may be.

Hey, are you all down at the red carpet?

What time are you planning on stopping?

He said 8:20.

-[Nelly] -[Bob] Yeah, 8:20.

[sighs]

She's not ready.

She cutting across here.

[Three]

Hey, no, this shit was happening long before that.

-[Three laughs] -This has something to do with...

It stings you more to sit around and wait on people

than to have people waiting on you.

[Ashanti exhales sharply]

That's what that do.

[dramatic music playing]

[doorbell dinging]

-Look at this. -[indistinct].

This nigga done broke out the socks.

[overlapping chatter]

Look at the cat daddy.

How you been doing, champ? Look at you.

You got that from Pharrell Exclusive.

-Hello. -[indistinct].

How you doing?

Still not ready.

[Ashanti] Why is it so quiet in here?

Like, you know, being a female, it's a lot that goes into it.

It's hair. I'm breastfeeding, so it's pumping.

And then, you know, boobs juice everywhere.

And I don't like this.

And this doesn't look the same today.

And the makeup and the hair, you know,

you just want everything to be as perfect as possible.

So it takes a little bit longer than, you know, the haircut.

-Everything's going to be beautiful. -[woman] I love this.

We got media that,

you know, like, there's a lot going on down there.

Purse, phone, anything else I'll just come up.

I'm going to have to come back up to pump.

-Oh, this. -[woman] With what you just did.

I was promised.

We are trying to press her. She's such a perfectionist.

But this is not a good time to be late.

Just grab the perfume.

-[Tina] Where? -It's in the closet.

-[Tina] Oh, shit. -[Ashanti] Don't trip over that milk.

Lot of shit went in today.

Lot of it. A lot of money was spent.

This don't make no goddamn sense, bitch.

Jesus fucking Christ.

[*]

[hip-hop music playing]

[indistinct chatter]

-We at a good event right now. -Yeah.

-Let's all have fun. -We got so much to celebrate.

-[Shawn] Let's make everybody proud, man. -[Chanelle] I love it.

-[Tina] Are you ready? -[Ashanti] I got to go.

Bring it with you?

[Ashanti] This was my fault.

I kind of messed up a little bit

because he was doing a lot and still beat me.

[sighs] He's never going to let me live that down either.

[Nelly] Fucking food going to be cold.

People, you know, [indistinct] cook the food to be served at a time.

Like, everybody's sitting there by the time.

You don't want to be re-warming that bullshit.

-I'm sorry. I'm sorry. -[Tina coughs] Fuck!

I'm so sorry. I didn't see you [indistinct].

-Woo. -And then Shereen, you just follow us.

-[indistinct]. -Go, let's go.

[indistinct].

So he was giving me the silent treatment a little bit.

I had the dress on and, you know, hair and makeup.

Everything was good.

And usually I'll get a comment, a very loud comment.

And it was like Silence of the Lambs.

Okay, I think y'all good.

I was definitely not in the husband-y mood.

[tense music playing]

This is the thing. Like, again, people that show me support, I'm truly appreciative.

And I love to get in there and tell each and every person, "Thank you."

That bought the table, that bought tickets.

And I didn't get a chance to kind of do that this time.

And yeah, I was a little upset at my wife about that one.

Because I just felt like that was my night.

And St. Louis's night. And yeah.

[*]

[camera shutter slicking]

I knew they were not closing the red carpet

without interviewing Nelly and seeing us together.

-[man] Nice meeting you. -Oh, wow.

[Gary] Hey, man, what's going on?

Before I say something to you, I got to say something to your [indistinct].

Before we get on with the show, twirl, girl.

-You look good. -Uh-oh. I gotta do a twirl?

-Hold on. -[Gary] Oh, my God.

Ain't nothing foolish about this here.

[Nelly] I was a little hot.

But you can't take that energy into a situation

because there's nothing you can do.

So you had to kick into that mood.

And that's what being a professional is.

It's like you put whatever's going on to the side

and you got to get the job done.

[reporter] Now, last time we was here, y'all had made a joke.

And then, boom, it turned out to be fruition.

There's a lot of rumors on the Internet about a second baby.

Oh, I don't know anything about that.

Don't know anything about it? No. Okay, okay.

-Not yet. Not yet. -Not yet.

I still need some convincing.

-What? -[Nelly laughs]

Think that was more of a coincidence than an announcement.

Shout out to my brother, Polow, who's actually here in attendance again.

At the Golden 50, our good friend, Polow,

decided to make an announcement on the mic again.

-What? -Talking about,

"Shanti has a surprise. She's pregnant."

[all cheering]

-No. -[Ashanti] ...Knock Polow out.

Yeah. Yeah. You don't remember that?

-I was drunk. -[sighs]

I wasn't. [laughs]

Good? Yeah?

-[Ashanti laughs] -Okay.

I'ma knock him out. I'ma knock Polow out.

-This is the second time. -Damn, Low.

["Better To Be Me" playing]

-[Tishaura] Good evening. -[woman] Good evening.

So, I'm one of your biggest fans,

but one of the things we're here to do tonight

is to give you your flowers while you're here.

You've had an amazing year.

I think we can all agree that Nelly has put St. Louis on the map.

Thank you.

And because of that,

it is my honor to present you with a key to the city.

Yeah, all right.

Whoa.

Yeah, that thang right.

I'm so proud, I'm so happy for my baby.

You know, he's still just accomplishing amazing things in his career.

[Nelly] Even though you gave me this key,

I wouldn't be here without my brothers.

So, it would mean so much more if we could give Murph,

Kyjuan, Slo'Down, and City Spud they key as well.

Well, as the kids say, "Say less."

[Nelly] So, if we could give a round of applause

for Kyjuan, Murphy Lee, City Spud, Slo'Down.

So, we can all get our key to the city at the same time like that.

Gotta know that.

To be able to give one

to the rest of the 'Tics was special

because, you know, these are my brothers

and I've been literally knowing them since, like, sixth grade.

You know, we created something that was truly, truly dope.

And to watch them be able to be honored

was something that was long overdue.

Definitely long overdue.

Y'all make some noise for Murphy Lee,

City Spud, Kyjuan, Slo'Down.

All right, some of you all want to get your dancing shoes out

because we're about to turn this thing out.

["Run It Back Full Mix Jsh" playing]

After celebration at the Black and White Ball,

it's just reiterated that Nelly is St. Louis, St. Louis is Nelly,

and he's probably not going anywhere. [laughs]

This is my favorite Ashanti song.

Check, check.

[Ashanti] Hey, hey.

* See, I don't know If you get it yet *

* He's like a lighter To my cigarette *

* I never knew Another human life *

* Who'd have the power To take over mine *

* We made a baby, baby, baby *

* I love it When I hear you, babe *

* Got me saying Baby, baby, baby *

[Ashanti laughs]

Y'all make some noise for my goddamn beautiful wife,

one time, one time, y'all knew the drill.

[audience cheering]

Y'all get home safe. Black and White Ball 2024.

We love y'all.

["Been Ballin" playing]

-Boo! -[Grip laughs] I was just coming back there.

[indistinct]. What's happening?

I'm going to truck stop. You want something?

[Nelly] Nah, I'm good. I'm good. All right, all right.

[Grip] I'm going to go ahead. I'm going to see what they got, though.

All right. Let me know. Call me from the inside.

-Let me know what's going on in there. -[Grip] I'll do ya.

[Nelly] It looks like the weather is changing our whole schedule around,

so no LA because of the fires and now the ice has got us.

We're going to be here a little bit, so.

Leaving St. Louis, we were originally supposed to go to LA.

Mm-hmm.

Due to the fires that broke out...

[reporter] From the Pacific Palisades to Pasadena,

multiple infernos, continuing mass destruction,

tens of thousands forced to evacuate.

[Ashanti] Now we're heading back to the east.

-It's terrible. -It's horrible.

Your heart goes out to those people.

Again, you hear those explosions.

So many of these homes, there is no hope.

It was really hard to just see so many people and so many lives affected.

You know, it was really, really sad.

I couldn't imagine just like waking up

and just losing everything.

I'm glad that we are not going,

you know, obviously in that direction,

especially the air quality for KK and all that stuff.

I was super worried.

It's crazy because it's like fire on one side

and then it's like snow and ice on the other side.

You know what I mean? And it's just like, I don't know, it makes you think a lot.

The climate and the weather

and all of these, like, natural disasters that are happening,

it's scary.

And it's weird because way before

Nelly and I even got back together and started talking about kids,

I was always saying, "It's so weird

to be bringing a child into the world at this time

because there's so much going on."

At least on the positive side, we'll be here for a minute.

I don't know if you got something that you want to do for eight hours.

What you want to do for eight hours?

Well, we can't do too much

'cause we got a little Napoleon that takes up...

Leave my baby!

...that takes up everything in there, so...

He be spread out, [indistinct].

-We sleep like a H. -[Ashanti laughs]

It's you, him like this, and then me.

I get pushed way over there.

Babe, you have enough space.

It's balanced. It's equal, I think.

I have to sleep on my side so I don't fall out the damn bed.

Speaking of, I got a thing. I have to go pump in a minute, too.

He only got a little longer. I'm going to need those back.

[both chuckling]

He just had them for some time now.

He definitely has.

You ain't going to be one of them people

who breastfeeding when the baby's walking.

I mean, I'm trying to, like,

go to, like-- they say to, like, one.

They got a meme of a baby standing up breastfeeding.

-Just taking it down? [laughs] -No.

But here's the thing.

Like, when his sister comes,

-then it's going to, like, start all over. -When who comes?

Then it's going to start all over again.

When his sister comes? Wait, wait, wait.

We got eight hours. Come on, let's go.

[both chuckling]

I don't know about eight hours. I got eight minutes.

I give you eight good minutes.

[Ashanti laughs]

["Soulful Christmas" playing]

[Ashanti] Oh, my God.

[Nelly] Ooh, ha-hoo!

-[Ashanti] Well, I mean-- -Christmas was good.

Christmas was amazing.

[gentle music playing]

[both laughing]

[Nelly] Now you put that together.

-Y'all did it. Y'all did it. -Yeah.

Although we didn't get a chance to do both New York and St. Louis,

I was able to bring my family down to St. Louis.

So we all celebrated together.

Oh, okay, look at that! Look at that.

Look at that. Look at that hot stuff.

Who that? Who that? Hey, hey, hey, look at this.

Will you look at this?

Anything I get, again, man, I'm thankful for.

I don't care if it's a fucking pack of Oreos. You know what I'm saying?

Like, there was a point in time I didn't get shit.

So I could get presents for the rest of my life.

And still have probably more years that I didn't get shit. [chuckles]

Oh, that's fun!

And it's got his birthday on the back.

-[Nelly] Ooh! -Ooh, baby, look at that custom on the back.

-Ooh! -[Nelly] Ooh!

With it being KK's first Christmas, I wanted to do something special.

You looking at your daddy awards?

[all laughing]

So we set it up so that all the kids could take pictures with Santa.

[Nelly] I told him he's not going to even remember.

We could have just put the boy in a green screen.

-And just put all this around him. -No.

And then when he was old enough, just tell him he knew Santa.

-That's corny. -You knew Santa.

-No, but he had a great idea. -No.

And said, "We can hire our own Santa."

So we had Santa

come down to the studio in St. Louis.

Studio transformed into a whole Christmas winter wonderland.

-[indistinct] -[Ashanti laughing]

Why you beat up Santa?

-Because when I was nine... -[Ashanti laughs]

...I asked for a Hot Wheels track.

And he said he was going to bring it.

And that was my next time I seen his ass.

I hadn't seen his ass since then.

-[indistinct]. -[Ashanti laughing]

I'm hot. Fish grease.

He don't even come to St. Louis like that.

[Ashanti] We had to make it special. It was dope though.

But I think if we could find out a way to go back and forth.

'Cause I understand, like,

Christmas up here for you as a child is very memorable.

And I don't think that should just be the end of it.

You know what I'm saying?

I definitely want to thank my wife

for not making where we have Christmas an issue.

Because I know she loves her family.

I know she loves being around her family.

So I'm thankful that she understood where I was coming from.

And helped figure it out.

My main concern would just be

because of some of the people being older.

Mm-hmm. Gigi.

And I don't know how many Christmases...

You know what I'm saying? So we can work that out.

-Mm-hmm. -But not if we can. We shall.

We should figure it out.

So KK can get his first Christmas in New York.

-Ay! -With your damn Yankees.

-And Ma, Ma Mac too. -Ma Mac.

Ma Mac want to come to New York too.

The kids definitely want to come to New York.

-The kids want to go anywhere. -[Ashanti laughing]

Compromise is the key to any type of intertwining.

-Union. -Yeah, union.

[Ashanti] I think we're both willing to compromise more.

I think we're both more patient with each other.

Also, one of my New Year's resolutions

was to be a little bit more on time.

[both chuckling]

-We're close. -[Nelly] And you still ain't ready.

This don't make no goddamn sense.

I do have to watch the way I do communicate.

Because it could come off, like, a little dictatorship.

We got media that,

you know, like, there's a lot going on down there.

Jesus fucking Christ.

We'll continue to work and hopefully continue to grow.

Nothing's gonna be perfect. You know what I'm saying?

As long as y'all talking, it'll work out.

-If you belong together. -If you belong together.

[both chuckling]

[Ashanti] Next time onNelly and Ashanti: We Belong Together.

We got an offer for Ethiopia

and then South Africa, Cape Town for January 4th.

I mean, I don't think I'm flying all the way out there.

We'll get the details.

This is gonna be a big year for Ashanti.

There are so many opportunities for performances.

You know, the fans are missing her.

-Ethiopia's not far. -That's where the bag is.

If the venue's sold out, you going.

[Nelly] We're kicking off the Where The Party At Tour.

Get to rock out with your brother Ja.

-Oh, and just missed that pin. -Just a bit outside.

Smoke that money. 2025, put your head down and run.

[Ashanti] It's way too long.

I'm not looking forward to all of those dates.

Daddy's gonna be gone for a long time.

-[Ashanti screams] -[Nelly] Huh?

-Oh, my God. -[Nelly] Yo! What happened?

You definitely gotta go to the doctor, though.

-I know. It's bad. -Yeah.

No more surprises.

Come here for two seconds.

I think it's a possibility

that they want me to perform at the inauguration.

What?

-You're playing. -I'm dead-ass.

They asked Bighead to perform for the inauguration.

-What? -Mm-hmm.

You ain't talking about divorcing me or no shit like that.

[dramatic music playing]