Give Him His Credit! Nelly Says He’s The Only Rapper To Receive Success Without Any Co-Signers

There’s no secret that Nelly has made a huge impact in the entertainment industry. In fact, he did it with no co-signers.

The St. Louis native recently sat down with Essence, where he shared how he achieved his success with no one to back him.

“People don’t understand when I say I had no co-signers. There was no one to back Nelly. There was no one to stand up for Nelly. People showed me love but there was no one to stand up for me. There was no one solidified to say, ‘Yo, he’s good.’ You can’t name me nobody that’s successful in my era or in what I do that didn’t have a co-signer. Everybody had a co-signer, but Nelly. Everybody!”

Unlike a few of his peers who had big names such as Roc-A-Fella Records vouching for them, Nelly says he brought in something new.

“I came out with a new sound from a new place, a new face and we literally had to work to accomplish and to be here the way that we are.”

The rapper has excelled tremendously in the rap game, becoming the fourth best-selling rap artist in American history.  This past Friday, Nelly received his flowers at the BET Hip Hop Awards, where he was presented with the “I Am Hip Hop Honor.”