City Spud

Lavell Webb, better known by his peculiar stage name City Spud, was a close friend of St. Louis, Missouri rapper <a href="spotify:artist:2gBjLmx6zQnFGQJCAQpRgw">Nelly</a> and a core member of his rap crew <a href="spotify:artist:6rxiUsSvkn5yTs1kfuV8Le">St. Lunatics</a>. (He was often erroneously believed to be <a href="spotify:artist:2gBjLmx6zQnFGQJCAQpRgw">Nelly</a>'s brother, a misconception that the pair eventually stopped bothering trying to dispel.) The group had a minor hit in 1997 with "Gimme What U Got," and followed <a href="spotify:artist:2gBjLmx6zQnFGQJCAQpRgw">Nelly</a> to <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Universal%22">Universal</a> shortly after he was signed by the label in 1999. Spud appeared on <a href="spotify:artist:2gBjLmx6zQnFGQJCAQpRgw">Nelly</a>'s breakthrough hit single "Ride wit' Me," and was working with <a href="spotify:artist:6rxiUsSvkn5yTs1kfuV8Le">St. Lunatics</a> on their debut album when he was sentenced to ten years in prison for his minor role in a violent armed robbery. Ironically, he was a quiet, music-obsessed kid with no prior criminal record, who handed himself in and collaborated fully with the police, but fell prey to Missouri's tough sentencing laws.

Shortly after Spud was jailed, <a href="spotify:artist:2gBjLmx6zQnFGQJCAQpRgw">Nelly</a> exploded onto the charts, as did <a href="spotify:artist:6rxiUsSvkn5yTs1kfuV8Le">St. Lunatics</a>, who titled their album Free City as an homage to Spud. He ultimately served nine years of his sentence, missing out on <a href="spotify:artist:2gBjLmx6zQnFGQJCAQpRgw">Nelly</a> and the group's rise to worldwide fame, although his royalty checks accumulated while he was inside. In a bizarre twist, while Spud was incarcerated, an impostor named Antonio Bell, who had served time with him, fleeced a number of St. Louis women out of hundreds of dollars by posing as him. Upon his release in 2008, Spud was finally able to rejoin <a href="spotify:artist:6rxiUsSvkn5yTs1kfuV8Le">St. Lunatics</a>, and they immediately started work on their long-delayed sophomore album, City Free. An eponymous single was issued in 2009 and the album was originally scheduled for 2010, but its release date was pushed back numerous times. ~ John D. Buchanan, Rovi