Nelly, Lupe Fiasco and B.o.B. are hitting up Australia and New Zealand this winter with a tour.
The trio will play six shows — no Lupe in Newcastle, though — for international fans. Here is the schedule, via MusicFeeds:
1/8/15: Sydney, Australia @ Qantas Credit Union Arena
1/9: Newcastle, Australia @ Panthers [No Lupe Fiasco]
1/10: Brisbane, Australia @ Riverstage
1/14: Auckland, New Zealand @ The Trusts Arena
1/16: Melbourne, Australia @ Sidney Myer Music Bowl
1/17: Perth, Australia @ HBF Stadium
Last we heard from Nelly, he was getting himself in trouble after Michael Brown was shot in Ferguson, Missouri.
The combination of a late response — five days after the incident — and a message that did not align with many of the protestors — "calm down" — resulted in severe backlash against the Missouri-born rapper.
HipHopWired points out that people simply did not buy Nelly's patient approach, especially because he tweeted out a picture of Cheerios before he even commented on the national news in his backyard.
TMZ released a short follow-up interview with Nelly, who tried to clarify his statements.
"I understand the frustration, but we have to strategize before we overreact," he said. "We don't get no do-over on s--t like this, so we have to do it right the first time.
"Ain't nothing happen no different that hasn't been happening ... At the end of the day, we should have waited to strategize first and take all the right steps to organize."
Atlanta-based rapper T.I. agreed.
"We needed to play chess instead of checkers," he said. "We should have waited to see if justice was going to be served first ... We shouldn't have played our strongest hand first."
But Nelly did not completely remove himself from the situation: He said that he is also starting a scholarship fund in Brown's name.
According to TMZ, Nelly, T.I., Kevin Hart and NBA player Al Jefferson were the first four celebrities pledging $15,000 a year in college tuition to teens chosen by the Brown family.
