There are plenty of musicians who died before getting definitive time in the musical spotlight. Tega -- a rapper who was affiliated with Nelly's St. Lunatics -- is sadly in that category, as he passed on while he was in the midst of climbing the musical ladder.

Tega -- whose real name was Oretga Devon Henderson -- was part of Da Camp, a rap group that often performed with Nelly and Murphy Lee. By 2009 the group had put out some mixtapes and was in the process of completing a full-length album.

But by the end of May of that year, Tega had died after succumbing to injuries sustained in a shooting.

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Nelly's "Hot in Herre" is 10 years old. The song paved the wave to Nelly becoming a mainstream pop star.

Most of Nelly's monster hits have neat-and-tidy legacies. "Country Grammar," for instance, introduced the world to Nelly's distinctive style and persona. "Dilemma" showed that Nelly could put forth a commercially-successful slow jam. And "Air Force Ones" proved to be the landmark rap song about shoes, a feat that even Soulja Boy couldn't top.

"Hot in Herre's" contribution to Nelly's meteoric rise is a bit more intangible. It wasn't the most commercially successful, controversial or unusual song Nelly put forward in his career. But Nellyville's triumphant single - which is now ten years old - proved to be the St. Louis native's dominant foray into broadening his already sizable appeal to mainstream audiences.

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"Country Grammar" is almost old enough to go to high school!

Mainstream superstardom often begins with a spark, rather than an explosion. It's hard to say whether Lady Gaga would have been more than a behind-the-scenes cog in Akon's machine without "Just Dance." And if 50 Cent had not delivered "In Da Club," it's possible that the world may never have tasted succulent Vitamin Water.

Nelly's twisty-turny career covers a lot of ground, including blockbuster albums, Adam Sandler movies, questionable credit card transactions and endorsements galore. And it's worth wondering whether any of those things would have occurred without "Country Grammar."

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The Darkness saved Samsung's ad from spiraling down into forgettable territory.

Let's be blunt. This year's Super Bowl was dismal for Midwesterners.

Sure, there were exceptions. Transplants from Boston, New York City or New Jersey may have enjoyed the game. Some may have had a rooting interest in Chad Ochocinco's David Carr's quest for a pity Super Bowl ring. And who knows? Maybe some people just watched to see the artist who made this video dress up in a cheerleader uniform and flick off America.

In any case, this year's slate of commercials attempted to fill a void. And like every year, many of the ads incorporated popular music to snag the attention of the masses.

Which spots succeeded? And which fell flatter than Rex Grossman's performance in Super Bowl XLI? Here's an unscientific take on some of Sunday's most memorable advertisements:

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The early 2000s were Nelly's salad days, a time period where the University City rapper was known more for slinging out hits than his efforts to take over Branson or for dealing with burglars at his Wildwood home.

An example: Nelly had the number one song in the country nine years ago today with "Dilemma," a finger-snapping slow jam duet with Destiny's Child alum Kelly Rowland. While "Hot in Herre" was arguably the Nellyville's signature track, "Dilemma" was actually the more successful song in terms of Billboard charting. "Dilemma" managed to stay at number one the Billboard Hot 100 charts for 10 weeks in 2002, as opposed to seven weeks for "Hot in Herre" during that same year.

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Our beloved local cuddle-thug has been all over the national scene in advance of his appearance on this year's Blizzard Music Tour. During the Grammys, a commercial aired in which he pimped out a Sony Audio system in the new Ford Explorer. The humorous clip features his duet with Kelly Rowland, "Gone," and scenes of Nelly objecting to over-the-top instances of pyrotechnics and dancers. While the line "I'm firing my agent now" has drawn some snorts of derision -- rocker Jason Isbell even tweeted, "Nelly, you probably should've fired your agent a long time ago" -- it's actually refreshing to see a musician knowingly acting ridiculous. View it below.

Speaking of ridiculous: Nelly's appearance on the new Beverly Hills 90210 also premiered this week.

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Dreaming of warmer weather, no doubt...

Even the city's cuddle-thug is being swept up in the snowmageddon, it seems: Nelly is part of the Blizzard Music Tour, which kicks off March 1 in South Dakota. The lineup for the trek is interesting and very diverse: Besides Nelly, the show features Denver hip-pop duo 3OH!3, Aussie rockers Sick Puppies and Cali Swag District, the group behind "Teach Me How to Dougie." You know this song. Video below.) Big Reeno and Dextrious are also along for the ride. Now, the tour isn't coming to St. Louis; it's sticking to cold-weather climes such as Iowa, Wyoming and Montana.

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Nelly's workout DVD, Celebrity Sweat, was released late last year. Although the smash single "Just a Dream" somewhat overshadowed Nelly's fitness kick, the latter didn't go unnoticed by two important people: President Obama and his wife, Michelle. According to stlhiphop.com and STL Today, Sweat is now an advocate for the President's Challenge, which is a program of the President's Council on Fitness, Sports, and Nutrition. The DVD is also associated with Michelle Obama's "Let's Move" program, whose goal is to fight childhood obesity. (In other words, the collaboration is all about promoting a healthy, active lifestyle.) It's unclear exactly how this came about, although the President's Challenge website has a section devoted to applying to become an advocate. It also and spells out the benefits of the partnership:

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The lovely folks over at Vevo finally got around to putting together an excellent Go Show from Nelly's surprise performance with the St. Lunatics at Blueberry Hill last month. "Move That Body" is the third single and maybe our favorite earworm off Nelly's forthcoming album, 5.0, which will be released stateside November 16. The single "Just a Dream" just rose to No. 1 on the Billboard Pop Singles chart, as of today. Congrats!

Short n' sweet: Here's a video with some highlights from Nelly's performance at Blueberry Hill on Friday. The overwhelming bass is there, but you'll have to imagine the 200 screaming, sweaty fans. Note: The lights you see are not actually from the stage, but rather the blinding reflection from Nelly's baller timepiece.

A close-up:

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