Nelly has revealed that Taylor Swift once paid him $50,000 in cash, handed over in a McDonald’s bag, for a guest appearance at one of her concerts.
The rapper shared the story on The Breakfast Club podcast.
He said Swift, who was 21 at the time, called him and asked him to perform at two Houston shows on consecutive nights, part of her 2011 Speak Now World Tour.
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Swift told him her team had a modest budget, and offered to cover travel and lodging and pay about $50,000.
She wanted him to perform Hot in Herre, as her dancers had already choreographed a routine to it.
“Can you come down to Houston and just perform it?” she asked. Nelly’s reply was to ask whether the money could be delivered in a McDonald’s bag. “Can you put that in a McDonald’s bag?” he said he asked.
Swift agreed.
Her private G5 jet collected Nelly and his family from St. Louis and flew them to Houston.
After the performance, her manager, Robert Allen, handed him a McDonald’s bag containing the $50,000 in cash.
The visit was short.
“We never even saw the room. We went from the show right back to the airport,” Nelly said. He also recalled Swift keeping a close eye on the clock. “We did it, and she was like, ‘Yo, three minutes, three minutes!’”
For Nelly, the cash was never the point. “The money wasn’t really the issue. I would’ve done it for free,” he said.
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