Country Grammar

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This article is about the album. For the song, see Country Grammar (Hot Shit).

Country Grammar
Studio album by
Nelly
ReleasedJune 27, 2000 (2000-6-27)
Recorded1999–2000
StudioUnique Recording Studios, New York City[1]
Genre
Length66:35
Label
  • Universal
  • Fo' Reel
Producer
  • Jason "Jay E" Epperson
  • City Spud
  • Steve "Blast" Wills
  • Basement Beats
Nelly chronology
Country Grammar
(2000) 		Nellyville
(2002)
Singles from Country Grammar
  1. "Country Grammar (Hot Shit)"
    Released: February 29, 2000
  2. "E.I."
    Released: October 17, 2000
  3. "Ride wit Me"
    Released: February 13, 2001
  4. "Batter Up"
    Released: July 10, 2001

Country Grammar is the debut

ARIA Singles Chart. "Ride wit Me" peaked within the top five on the Hot 100, ARIA Singles Chart, Irish Singles Chart and UK Singles Chart. The album's fourth and final single, "Batter Up" featuring St. Lunatics members Murphy Lee
and Ali, achieved moderate chart success.

Country Grammar received positive reviews, with critics praising Nelly's vocal style and the album's production. It topped the US

Recording Industry Association of New Zealand (RIANZ) and Music Canada
(MC). The former denoted shipments of 45,000 copies while the latter denoted 300,000 copies.

In 2016, Country Grammar became the ninth hip hop album to be certified Diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), denoting shipment of 10 million copies in the US. Its commercial success secured Nelly's status as one of the most successful hip hop acts of the 2000s decade. On Billboard's decade-end chart, Nelly ranked as the third most successful act of the 2000s decade, due largely to the success of Country Grammar and his follow-up album Nellyville (2002).

Background and production

In his early years, Nelly frequently moved locations around the United States, before residing in the

Mastering was performed by Herb Powers, with A&R directed by Kevin Law and Coordinated by Craig Yoskowitz.[4] Management was provided by Tony Davis and Courtney Benson, with legality handled by Todd Rubenstein. Creative direction was handled by Sandra Brummels, with design done by BENTO Design and photography done by Jonathen Mannion.[4]

Composition

Much of Nelly's rap style draws from his origins, as it contains

rap singalong vocal style, which AllMusic's Jason Birchmeier notes present within Country Grammar's tracks including "Ride wit Me" and "E.I.".[7] Peter Shapiro described Nelly's singing and rapping as using "unforgettable hooks based on schoolyard songs, double-dutch chants, and nonsense rhymes".[6] Much of Country Grammar's tracks are bass-heavy,[8][9] that are primarily Southern hip-hop based and minimalistic.[10] In the album's self-titled track, Nelly's vocals are slurred and slow,[11] and are a "smooth, slippery-fast instrument" with "reggae inflections".[8] Rolling Stone journalist Kris Ex found the song's lyrics to depict Nelly "riding around town in an expensive SUV with an assault weapon".[9] "Ride wit Me" is a rap and pop crossover[11] that samples DeBarge's 1982 song "I Like It",[4] and its lyrics feature Nelly introspecting.[8] Ex found the chorus of "E.I." to contain the vocal style of rapper The Notorious B.I.G.[9] "Luven Me" samples "Don't Stop (Ever Loving Me)" by One Way and "Whatever You Want" by Tony! Toni! Toné!.[4] Steve Sutherland of NME interpreted "Luven Me" as a "virtual rewrite" of rapper Tupac Shakur's 1995 "Dear Mama".[11]

Singles

"Country Grammar" was released as the album's first single on February 29, 2000, in the US.

UK Singles Chart.[13][14] It also reached number ten on the Canadian Hot 100 and twenty on ARIA Singles Chart.[15][16] The song was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA).[17][18] The second single, "E.I.", was written by Nelly and Epperson and produced by the latter.[4] It reached number sixteen on the Hot 100,[14] number eleven on the UK Singles Chart and number twelve on the ARIA Singles Chart.[13][19] It was certified gold by the ARIA.[18]

Written by Nelly and Epperson and produced by the latter, "

Belgian Singles Chart (Flanders) and number nineteen on the ARIA Singles Chart.[19]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[7]
Entertainment WeeklyB−[8]
Los Angeles Times[20]
NME9/10[11]
Pitchfork8.1/10[21]
Q[22]
Rolling Stone[9]
The Source[23]
Spin6/10[24]
The Village VoiceB+[25]

Country Grammar received acclaim by

DMX with a humour infusion".[11] He closed his review declaring Country Grammar as "album of the year".[11] While writing that Country Grammar demonstrates that "tiresome rap topics" are not restricted to "the coasts", Entertainment Weekly's David Browne highlighted Nelly's "smooth, slippery-fast" voice, as well as the album's "appealingly minimalist tracks" and "introspective moments" such as "Ride wit Me".[8]

In

Jason "Jay E" Epperson's contribution to the album.[7]

Reviewing Country Grammar for Rolling Stone, Kris Ex wrote that the album's "liquid bass bumps" interlope well with Nelly's "wordplay-heavy sing-song rhyme-flow", while declaring Country Grammar to be "the best thing to come out of St. Louis" since comedian Redd Foxx.[9] At the 2001 Soul Train Music Awards, Country Grammar earned Nelly the award for Best R&B/Soul or Rap New Artist.[26] Nelly was nominated for four awards at the Online Hip-Hop Awards, for Favorite Music Video, Song of the Year (both for "E.I."), Album of the Year (for Country Grammar) and Outstanding Graphic Design for his official website.[27] He won the awards for Song of the Year and Artist of the Year.[28]

Commercial performance

Country Grammar entered the

Nielsen SoundScan.[36] On July 21, 2016, the album was certified Diamond by the RIAA, denoting shipment of ten million copies in the US.[37]

Country Grammar entered the

Dutch Albums Chart, the album peaked at number 8.[41]

On the

French Albums Chart at numbers 90 and 109 respectively.[41] Country Grammar topped the US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums year-end chart in 2000.[43]

Legacy

According to Billboard, as of 2022, Country Grammar is one of the 15 best-performing 21st-century albums without any of its singles being number-one hits on the Billboard Hot 100.[44] Country Grammar's success cemented Nelly's position as one of the most successful hip hop acts of the emerging decade.[45][35][36] Vibe emphasized Nelly's expeditious fame, writing that the rapper debuted without the benefit of "guest spots or Pen and Pixel produced teasers on his CD cover".[3] The magazine continued to note the rapper's absence of being associated with a notable group, "he just came out and sold two million records in less than a month".[3] Nelly's success helped in making St. Louis more notable for emerging hip hop acts, increasing the city's general reputation.[3][35] Country Grammar experienced commercial success, topping the US Billboard 200 chart for five weeks in 2000, eventually going on to sell over 9 million copies in the US, making it the ninth best-selling rap album of all time in the country.[46] It is one of the highest certified albums in the US history, being certified ten times platinum[47] by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Nelly ranked third on the Billboard 2000–2009 decade-end chart, due to the success of Country Grammar as well as his follow-up album Nellyville (2002).[48] The latter album went on to sell 6,488,000 copies in the US.[49]

Country Grammar was ranked as the 85th best album of all time on the Billboard Top 200 Albums of All Time.[50]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Nelly (Cornell Haynes, Jr.), additional writers listed below

Country Grammar track listing
No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
1."Intro" (featuring
City Spud
4:15
4."Country Grammar (Hot Shit)" (also known as "Country Grammar (Hot)")EppersonEpperson4:47
5."Steal the Show" (featuring St. Lunatics)
Epperson5:27
6."Interlude" (featuring Cedric the Entertainer)  0:33
7."Ride wit Me" (featuring City Spud)
  • Webb
  • Epperson
Epperson4:51
8."E.I."EppersonEpperson4:45
9."Thicky Thick Girl" (featuring Murphy Lee and Ali)
  • Harper
  • Jones
  • Webb
City Spud4:34
10."For My" (featuring Lil' Wayne)
Epperson4:08
11."Utha Side"EppersonEpperson4:33
12."Tho Dem Wrappas"EppersonEpperson4:09
13."Wrap Sumden" (featuring St. Lunatics)
  • Webb
  • Jones
  • Harper
  • Cleveland
  • Epperson
Epperson4:16
14."Batter Up" (featuring Murphy Lee and Ali)
Steve "Blast" Wills5:27
15."Never Let 'Em C U Sweat" (featuring The Teamsters)
  • Webb
  • Donell Simmons
  • Jamal Aziz
  • Jesse "Corparal" Wilson
City Spud4:14
16."Luven Me"WebbCity Spud4:07
17."Outro" (featuring Cedric the Entertainer)  0:44
Total length:66:35

Notes[4]

Personnel

Credits adapted from liner notes.[4]

  • Steve Eigner –
    recording
  • Kenny Dykstra – recording, assistant
  • Rich Travali – mixing
  • Jason Standard – mixing, assistant
  • Herb Powers –
    mastering
  • Sandra Brummel – creative directing
  • BENTO Design – design
  • Jonathen Mannion – photography

20th anniversary live album

For the 20th anniversary of the album, Nelly performed the entire album live at MelodyVR. On February 19, 2021, the rapper released the album Country Grammar Live alongside a documentary film, Country Grammar – A St. Lunatics Story.[51]

Charts

Certifications

Certifications for Country Grammar
Region Certification Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[86] Platinum 70,000^
Canada (Music Canada)[87] 3× Platinum 300,000^
Germany (BVMI)[88] Gold 150,000‡
New Zealand (RMNZ)[89] 3× Platinum 45,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[90] Platinum 300,000^
United States (RIAA)[91] Diamond 10,000,000‡

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

Release history

Release history and formats for Country Grammar
Country Date Format(s) Label Ref.
Canada June 27, 2000 CD
Universal
 [92]
United States [93]
United Kingdom June 29, 2000 [94]
Germany September 25, 2000 [95]

See also

  • List of number-one albums of 2000 (U.S.)
  • List of number-one R&B albums of 2000 (U.S.)

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