Typically, the main St. Lunatic doesn’t get too much burn here at TSS. Not because he’s not talented or because we’re too cool for the one-time mega-star, but because our crowd simply won’t read. All that said, nothing has changed and yet, here you are reading a post about Nelly. But for good reason. Quite simply put, Ashanti’s ex-boyfriend is a grade-A thief.

See, on my solo trip home from my best friend’s wedding this past weekend, my battered and bruised brain couldn’t bare to change discs or fuddle with playlists, so I rocked the radio for three hours straight. After Classic rock got played out and jazz almost caused an accident, I hit the Top 40 station where I eventually stumbled upon Band-Aid-Face’s first, new single in what seems like forever, “Just A Dream.”

Initially, I was actually kind of digging his guitar-riddled letter of remorse to an ex-lady-friend…until I realized I’d heard it all before. Not the song, but the main melody carrying the chorus. After wracking my brain for around three minutes, I realized that this motherhugger had bitten bit T.I.’s “Whatever You Like” worse than Mike Tyson bit Evander.

But wait, the plot thickens. Jim Jonsin, the Lynard Skynard of rap, happens to be the producer of both the aforementioned Top 40-fielding records. Was it his Southern soul influence that rubbed off coincidentally, or is there a method to the machine’s madness?

Despite the slight and obvious jock, T.I. appears on Nelly’s comeback album Nelly 5.0, which is expected to underwhelm this November.