Nelly Explains Eminem Beef Was Caused by Misinterpretation

Nelly revealed that he "felt like a dick" after sparking a beef with Eminem when he was younger, due to a simple case of misinterpretation."

The 50-year-old rapper recently appeared on The Bootleg Kev podcast where he discussed the brief static the two rappers had in the early 2000s, revealing it was due to him misunderstanding a line that Eminem said. 

“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.”

To backtrack, the "Hot In Herre" rapper went on TRL and said that he didn’t like Eminem’s “sly little comments.” “I don’t play with candy. I eat M&Ms…. I just don’t think dude plan on coming to tour to St. Louis,” he added. 

Eminem fired back at Nelly on the 2002 song “Invasion,” saying, “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 (this being a reference to Nelly’s popular song ‘Air Force Ones’).”

Nelly revealed to podcast host Bootleg Kev that he’d made the comments when he was “still fresh” from St. Louis. He also said that he knows now that Eminem wasn’t trying to beef with him, and even called the Detroit legend “the GOAT.”

He also explained that they eventually met at an afterparty in Detroit where he realized that he’d blown the whole thing out of proportion. “Somebody came and was like, ‘Yo, Em wanna come through and holler,’” Nelly explained. “He was like, ‘Yo man, my daughter…’ I felt like such a dick. We were Eminem fans! And just miscommunication, man.” 

“He’s a dope cat and I’m glad we got that out of the way,” Nelly continued. “It’s fucked up when people that you fuck with and that you admire on a level… it’s like, dude spits…. I’m glad we squashed that. Em is a cat.”

Nelly shared on The Bootleg Kev Podcast (March 25) why he married Ashanti shortly after she became pregnant with their first child, Kenkaide "KK" Haynes. The couple, who welcomed their 10-month-old son in 2023, tied the knot before Ashanti became a first-time mom. He also reflected on their reconciliation after a decade apart and dating other people.