Throwback Thursday: Nelly’s “Country Grammar” (Video)

Nostalgia does strange things to a man. When Nelly's breakthrough hit "Country Grammar" came out a decade ago I wasn't really a fan - but I couldn't go anywhere in the summer of 2000 without hearing the bouncing track, and since that was one of the best summers of my life, I now find myself listening to it with a sense of wistful enjoyment. And I know I'm not the only one.



1) The minute it dropped "Country Grammar" joined the "YMCA All-Stars", comprised of songs that white people like to sing along to without really understanding the lyrics. Although "YMCA" is essentially about gay sex, 60-year-old white people love singing along to it at weddings, and although the hook on "Country Grammar" is essentially a reference to a drive-by shooting, that didn't stop middle school kids singing along with abandon. Good times.

2) As I wrote for Papoose's last video, if you really want to tell how big a rapper is just check out the girls he has in his video. The not-yet famous Nelly clearly threw a few dollars at some local strippers, if that, and called it a day here, but by the time "Hot in Herre" dropped it was nothing but wall-to-wall models.

3) I have to hand it to Nelly. I've been on a mission to get rappers to stay true to their hometown sports teams (screw you guy from Atlanta wearing a Yankees cap), and on that level Nelly's a role model. Not only does he only rock St. Louis gear, he rocks a Blues jersey! That's right, his loyalty runs so deep he reps his city's hockey team. Applaud that man.

4) Unfortunately this video also contains an unfortunate landmark; it marks the first time I noticed the disturbing trend of little girls (like ten-years-old) dancing suggestively in rap videos, a trend that would reach a disturbing climax on Huey's "Pop Lock & Drop It". What are these parents thinking? As a parent it's my goal in life to make sure my daughter never appears in a rap video (or on The Real World), and she's certainly not going to be poppin it when she's eight. WTF.

5) So where's Nelly now? Interesting question. Nowhere, really. Despite being one of the biggest rappers in the game just five years ago, since then (like Ashanti) he's just kind of faded away. Remember his last album "Brass Knuckles"? Yeah, no one else does either .