What happened between Nelly and Eminem? Texas rapper extends apology over feud borne out of a miscommunication
Rapper Cornell Iral Haynes Jr., who goes by the moniker Nelly, recently apologized to Eminem for starting a feud over a miscommunication. During his appearance on The Bootleg Kev podcast on Monday, March 24, 2025, the St. Louis rapper revealed that they have since made amends.
Elaborating on their short-lived beef, Haynes explained that during the early days of his career, he mistakenly believed Em took shots at him. This prompted him to call out the Detroit rapper during an episode of MTV's Total Request Live (TRL) in 2000.
According to Hot 97, at the time Nelly stated that he didn't appreciate Eminem's "sly little comments" before adding:
"I don’t play with candy. I eat M&Ms, flat out. I just don’t think (the) dude plan(s) on coming to tour to St. Louis."
Referencing his previous remarks, Haynes told The Bootleg Kev:
"I misinterpreted something when I was really, really new and I want to apologize to Em," he continued, "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."
"I felt like a d*ck. Because we were Eminem fans!"-Nelly about his MTV TRL comment
In his interview on the podcast, Nelly explained that he was new on the scene and he "misinterpreted something," adding that he wanted to apologize to Eminem. He stated:
"When I went on MTV, I made some comments because, you know, I’m still fresh from Lou (referring to St. Louis). But that wasn’t the case. Em is the GOAT. He’s so dope."
The St. Louis rapper recalled running into Em at an afterparty in Detroit. The latter approached Haynes, wanting Nelly to meet his daughter, Hailie Jade.
“Somebody came and was like, ‘Yo, Em wanna come through and holler. He was like, ‘Yo man, my daughter…’ I felt like such a d*ck. We were Eminem fans! And just miscommunication, man.”
Haynes clarified that there was no real beef between them, adding that he was glad they "squashed" it.
“He’s a dope cat and I’m glad we got that out of the way. It’s f**ked up when people that you f**k with and that you admire on a level… it’s like, dude spits…. I’m glad we squashed that. Em is a cat,” he added.
It is worth noting that the misunderstanding never turned into a full-fledged feud. In May 2000, Eminem dropped his third album, The Marshall Mathers LP, which debuted atop the album charts. Meanwhile, Nelly, an up-and-coming artist, found success with his single, Country Grammar (Hot Sh*t), and its namesake album, released in June.
Both projects competed at the charts in the months that followed. Both even dominated the radio scene at the time. Additionally, fans, critics, and publications began pitting the two artists.
Amid this, Haynes appeared as a guest host on MTV's TRL in August 2000. When the show's regular host, KK Holiday, questioned him about Em, he replied:
"Well, you know, dirty, dirty, I don’t too much know nothing bout dirty, you know what I’m sayin. But he be having some sly little comments about me."
According to a July 2017 article by Vice, this prompted speculations of a beef between the two. The publication reported that there were rumors of Eminem responding with a diss track, Detroit Grammar. However, the friction never escalated.
It remains unclear how and when the two musicians clarified the misunderstanding.
According to People magazine, Eminem reportedly responded to Nelly's diss in his 2002 song Invasion. It is worth noting that the track is directed at Ja Rule and Benzino. However, many believe he also referenced his St. Louis peer when he rapped:
"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."
Notably, Air Force Ones is the name of Nelly's song that came out around the same time as Invasion.
Eminem went on to give Nelly a shout out in his tracks, The Conspiracy Freestyle (2003) and No Apologies (2006).
Eminem has not publicly commented on Nelly's interview.