Despite making friendly sounding music, Nelly has never been one to bite his tongue.
From a war of words with the Blast Master, KRS-One to standing up for his X-rated “Tip Drill” video, the St. Lunatic has firmly stood his ground since making his debut with 2000’s Country Grammar.
With his latest effort, Brass Knuckles on the way, Cornell Haynes Jr. is now taking Hip Hop as a whole to task, saying its artists need to branch out more.
“Hip-hop’s not acknowledging other music,” he told The Guardian in a recent interview.
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“We should be doing songs with country, rock and pop stars.”
With album sales declining across all musical genres, Nelly gave props to rock groups like Linkin Park and Limp Bizkit, two groups with heavy Hip Hop influences in their work.
He pointed to those two groups as an example rap artists should follow.
“Instead of keeping hip-hop locked into one thing, we should be blowing it up and expanding it. That’s the way you stay at the top and the music remains dominant.”
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In the past, Nelly has collaborated with Kelly Rowland (“Dilemma) and country artist Tim McGraw (“Over and Over”). Staying true to himself, he was looking for another high profile collaboration for his upcoming album, but was unable to pull it off.
“I wanted to work with Bruce Springsteen on this album but it didn’t happen because of a scheduling conflict.”
