Personnel: Nelly, Lil' Wayne, The Teamsters, St. Lunatics, Murphy Lee, Ali, City Spud (rap vocals); Cedric The Entertaner (spoken vocals).
Producers: Jason "Jay E" Epperson, City Spud, Steve "Blast" Wills.
Recorded at Unique Studios, New York, New York.
COUNTRY GRAMMAR was nominated for the 2001 Grammy Award for Best Rap Album and "Country Grammar" was nominated for Best Solo Rap Performance.
"Ride Wit Me" was nominated for the 2002 Grammy Award for Best Solo Rap Performance.
With this, his Universal Records major-label debut, St. Louis native Nelly was poised to place the Midwest on the hip-hop map in the same way that Master P did for New Orleans. The 20-year-old MC combines bouncy, funky tracks with a cool, unique vocal draw.
The title track was one of the year 2000's most infectious tracks, with its memorable chorus hook based on the children's song "Down, Down Baby." The rapper is joined by the Hot Boys' Lil Wayne on "For My" and the New York-based duo the Teamsters on "Never Let 'Em C U Sweat." His crew, the St. Lunatics, joins the fracas on "Steal the Show" and "Batter Up." COUNTRY GRAMMAR proves that there's always room for an album of cool beats and slick lyrics, no matter where you call home.
What the critics say...
Rolling Stone (8/31/00, pp.73-74) - 3.5 stars out of 5 - "...Quick-rolling liquid bass bumps wrap around his wordplay-heavy sing-song rhyme-flow....the best thing to come out of St. Louis since Redd Foxx."
Entertainment Weekly (7/21/00, p.78) - "...What salvages Nelly is his voice...appealingly minimalist tracks, and introspective moments like 'Ride Wit Me'..." - Rating: B-
Q (1/01, p.92) - Included in Q's "50 Best Albums of 2000".
Q (11/00, p.112) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...A peerless party record. All rubbery beats and shameless pop nous..."
The Source (5/00, pp.216,218) - 3.5 mics out of 5 - "...Validates Nelly's husky, singsongy style as the new steez to jock. The boy's thick, gospel flavor is so nice at times that he'll soon be stealing collab gigs from Goodie Mob's Cee-Lo..."
NME (Magazine) (9/23/00, p.34) - 9 out of 10 - "...Slurred and slow and damn proud of it. Nelly is legit and eased...and is the year's dreamiest new hip-hop discovery....This album's one in a million; pure gold. Album of the year so far."
