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Nelly Plans to "P.I.M.P." Scholars

By The Hilltop editorial board
Black College Wire

Why is Nelly choosing only two recipients?

Nelly recently announced a plan to award one disadvantaged male and one female with $5,000 in January through his Positive Intellectual Motivated Person Scholars Program.

It sounded wonderful until we realized that there was a catch (peep the P.I.M.P. acronym). The Hilltop can appreciate Nelly's effort to send students to college because many of us wouldn't be here without the help of financial aid or scholarships. However, the P.I.M.P. title takes away from his whole vision.

Can you imagine the look on an administrator's face when one of few black students at a predominantly white university proudly shouts that he or she is the recipient of the P.I.M.P scholarship? Not every school would accept or respect the achievement as an HBCU might. We wonder if this is setting someone up to be embarrassed soon after the excitement dies down.

Secondly, we wonder why Nelly is choosing only two recipients? Why can't the multi-platinum rapper send more disadvantaged kids to college? He clearly has enough money to co-own the Charlotte Bobcats and spend millions on his lavish lifestyle. We wonder whether this could be a ploy to promote his Pimp Juice energy drink, or create a buzz surrounding his newest album. We have to question Nelly's motives a little.

We do recognize that the P.I.M.P. Scholars Program may grab the attention of young minorities who think the title is cool. It could promote education for young aspiring Nellys who may not have even considered going to college until their role model suggested it. The person awarded to scholarship could turn out to be the next Oprah or a future president!

Nelly is definitely sending people to school and we have to clap for that. But at the end of the day, we all know that Nelly could have chosen a more appropriate title for his scholarship.

If anyone is interested in applying, the deadline is Dec. 29. You might just get PIMPED!

By the editorial board of The Hilltop at Howard University.

Posted Aug. 23, 2004