Travis Grier: (@yoyotrav)

We all love ourselves a great nostalgic moment, especially when it comes down to some of our Hip Hop favorites. A man that has undeniably left his mark on Hip Hop culture as a whole, is none other than Nelly. If you’ve never chanted, “I’m a sucker for corn rows and manicured toes,” sit this one out. This segment isn’t for you.

During Nelly’s reign, which was arguably present from 2000 – 2005, the St. Louis representing rapper was more than likely one of your favorites. Unescapable in every aspect of his career, if you hated Nelly, you had no choice but to deal with it as the rapper and his band-aid was one of Hip Hop’s most notable faces at the time.

Getting into what really matters and what may be the biggest argument in the entire “Nelly vs. Drake” ordeal, the numbers surrounding Nelly’s career can put many artists to shame.

Commercially, Nelly was a force to be reckoned with. Spawning multi-platinum hits and today’s classics with “Country Grammar,” “Hot In Herre,” “Dilemma,” “Grillz,” and an impressive handful of others, Nelly isn’t starving for a hit by any stretch of the imagination. Furthermore, Nelly’s debut album was recently certified diamond, meaning the album moved an impressive 10,000,000 units, at the very least. Making it only the 8th Hip Hop album to ever reach such heights, this weighs such importance as Nelly’s era didn’t allow for a few clicks to bring up an artist’s latest album for streaming.

A foreign concept to some in 2017, that means you had to go outside and spend your money to buy an album. Having 10 top 10 hits, 4 of them being no. 1 records spanning across several weeks, you’re going to respect Nelly and his contributions!

All in all, Nelly was a mega star during his prime. This is the same man who gave the world, “Tip Drill,” but also landed a Cheerios endorsement several years down the line. Nelly STILL has women dropping to the floor at the sound of “Flap Your Wings,” but gave us a top 5 Country hit with Tim McGraw. The impact of Nelly is so strong, he had us believing that it was possible to send text messages via an Excel spreadsheet and no one questioned it for years.

Mr. “Air Force Ones” himself was solely responsible for us all either saving our money or begging our parents for a crisp pair of Air Forces, which Nelly ultimately landed a signature shoe deal due to the record’s smashing success. I will not fail to mention that Nelly has a Super Bowl halftime show performance to his name, a milestone Drake has yet to reach.

Do you remember Apple Bottoms jeans? I sure do. He launched his fashion line for women, and while we all know how that worked out in the long run, no one is singing about OVO garments in their records like T-Pain did in Flo Rida’s monster hit single, “Low.” Drake could NEVER.

It’s ok to like Drake and love his music. Even I own physical copies of every Drake album that has been made available to purchase. But when it comes down to it, Nelly at his prime has reached mountains that Drake has yet to climb. Therefore, Drake takes his first L of 2017.

Thank you, Nelly!