Before Nelly Heats Up, Time’s Up

Nelly may be the hottest star in rap over the past two years, but he sure hasn’t had much luck as a live performer in Southern California. His long-awaited big-show debut in the area, Aug. 11 at the Beat Summer Jam, never happened because fights in the audience ended the show prematurely.

Back for another round Saturday at the KPWR-FM (105.9) Back to School Powerhouse concert at the Arrowhead Pond, Nelly was cut short by the clock.

The St. Louis rapper, whose new album, “Nellyville,” is No. 1 this week and has quickly sold almost 3 million, following 8 million-plus for his debut, “Country Grammar,” didn’t begin his show-closing set until nearly 12:30 a.m., an hour later than scheduled. The multi-act concert ended abruptly just before 1 a.m., with the house lights unceremoniously turned on just as Nelly was finishing “Dilemma,” his duet with Destiny’s Child’s Kelly Rowland.

That limp ballad is uncharacteristic of Nelly’s music, which is predominantly catchy, spring-loaded hip-hop, but it represents the kind of pop crossover gesture that gets him scolded by purists. Amid such harder-core company Saturday as Ja Rule and the Westside Connection, it was surprising that he’d spend precious time on it. Or maybe it wasn’t--it is his current radio hit, after all.

Nelly usually manages to be catchy without sounding so compromised, and the rest of the set had been much more upbeat. Nelly is more interested in cruising and partying than in hard-core street-life scenarios, and he has a flair for a tenacious hook and a certain benign innocence. His recent hit “Hot in Herre” revolves around the refrain “So take off all your clothes,” but Nelly manages to make it seem less a salacious order than a practical solution to the rising temperature.

With the four members of his vocal group, the St. Lunatics, prowling and bouncing with infectious energy, the brief set moved briskly, but Nelly himself never really came into focus. His vocals--he actually sings more than raps--sounded fine, but he seemed somehow remote and reserved.

Maybe the clock was on his mind, or maybe it had something to do with following the Westside Connection. The group kept reminding the audience that it owned the arena, but it wasn’t really necessary--with its impeccable credentials, hometown support and sheer physical force, the trio of Ice Cube, Mack 10 and W.C. came on like a force of nature.

The three magnified their classic brand of gangster rap to fill the room, creating a larger-than-life, arena-rap counterpart to arena-rock. They also might have contributed to the time squeeze on Nelly, loudly proclaiming that they were being told to end their show, then loudly refusing to do so. It might have been part of the act, but it sure pumped up the crowd.

Preceding those West Coast representatives and the Midwestern headliner, Ja Rule led an East Coast contingent through a less accessible course of New York hard-core. The gruff-voiced rapper makes complex, musically diverse albums, but Saturday it was all rat-a-tat, stop-and-start detonations. He was joined by Irv Gotti, the head of the Murder Inc. collective, as well as other members, including its big star, singer Ashanti.

They’re often cited as hip-hop’s new dynasty, but that status seems more likely to be determined in the studio rather than on stage.