Students can start perfecting their “Country Grammar,” because Nelly will be this year’s Dillo Day nighttime headliner, Mayfest leaders said.

“We’re really excited to have him,” said Weinberg senior Katie Halpern, Mayfest’s co-chair. “We think that Nelly is the most exciting hip-hop act we’ve ever had for Dillo Day.”

Mayfest will announce another act at Battle of the DJs on Friday night, Halpern said.

Some of Nelly’s more popular hits from the early 2000s include “E.I.,” “Grillz,” “Air Force Ones” and “Hot in Herre.”

Halpern said she is excited to bring the artist, since he’s both a Grammy Award winner and “a part of our childhoods.”

Michael Gebhardt, Mayfest’s co-chair and a Weinberg junior, said Northwestern’s Interfraternity Council and Panhellenic Association contributed to funding the act. Halpern said IFC and PHA did not directly help select Nelly, but he contributes to the variety Mayfest strives for.

Mayfest has brought hip-hop acts as nighttime headliners for the past several years, but not much longer than that, Gebhardt said.

During previous Dillo Days, the festival included multiple stages to showcase a variety of artists, Halpern said.

“Even before we started bringing large hip-hop acts, there was always an effort to accommodate a large amount of musical tastes,” she said.

Halpern said she was looking forward to the whole performance, “but everybody loves ‘Ride Wit Me.'”

– Ali Elkin