Nelly Essentials

With a Midwest twang and a melodic approach to hip-hop all his own, Nelly quickly scaled dizzying commercial heights with his 2000 debut, Country Grammar. Over the next few years, the St. Louis rapper mixed his homegrown sound with other influences to great effect. He paired his tuneful flow with The Neptunes' syncopated funk on “Hot in Herre,” duetted with Destiny's Child star Kelly Rowland on the R&B confection “Dilemma,” went down south with Paul Wall on “Grillz,” and even turned a touch country on the Tim McGraw collaboration “Over and Over”—all while sounding like no one but Nelly.