Nelly is in his reflection era. He’s thinking about his early-career feud with Eminem, admitting he regrets the misunderstanding that sparked their brief rivalry.
During a recent appearance on The Bootleg Kev podcast (March 24), the St. Louis rapper apologized for the past tension and confirmed they’ve since reconciled.
“I misinterpreted something when I was really, really new, and I want to apologize to Em,” Nelly said. “But I was at a time where I’m coming in, I’m the new guy, anybody talking… Well, somehow I misinterpreted that he had something to say about what we were doing.”
Get this, the tension dates back to the early 2000s when Nelly, then a rising star, appeared on MTV’s Total Request Live and responded to what he believed were subtle disses from Eminem. “I don’t play with candy. I eat M&Ms…. I just don’t think [the] dude plan[s] on coming to tour to St. Louis,” he said at the time.
When looking back, Nelly acknowledged his reaction stemmed from being “still fresh from the Lou” and admitted his assumptions were wrong. He now considers Eminem “the GOAT.”
Eminem fired back with lyrics on the 2002 track “Invasion,” rapping: “Stomping in my Air Force Ones/But you won’t be able to tell/If it’s two pairs or one/It’s just gonna feel like so many feet kicking you.”
The feud didn’t last long, however. The two rappers eventually cleared the air at a Detroit afterparty where Eminem was with his daughter, Hailie Jade.
“Somebody came and was like, ‘Yo, Em wanna come through and holler,’” Nelly recalled. “He was like, ‘Yo man, my daughter…’ I felt like such a dick. We were Eminem fans! And just miscommunication, man.”
Nelly expressed relief that they resolved the conflict, saying: “He’s a dope cat, and I’m glad we got that out of the way. It’s fked up when people that you f–k with and that you admire on a level… it’s like dude spit. I’m glad we squashed that. Em is a cat.”