Rapper Nelly Going Country for New EP

Rapper Nelly is working on an upcoming EP that will focus on country music.

The hip-hop star titled his 2000 debut album Country Grammar, and he scored an international hit in 2004 with "Over and Over," a collaboration with Tim McGraw. He dipped his toe into the country genre again in 2013, teaming with Florida Georgia Line for a remix of their hit, "Cruise," which became a crossover smash and shattered chart records that had previously stood for decades, becoming the biggest-selling digital country single of all time.

Florida Georgia Line also appeared on Nelly's last album, M.O., in 2013. The rapper's new manager, J. Erving, tells Billboard his client is making a lot of changes for his forthcoming project.

"He's a free agent on the label side now, and is working on a country-based Heartland EP, which should be really interesting," Erving says. "He may be one of the first hip-hop artists to jump into that space in an authentic way with Florida Georgia Line and Tim McGraw, so we think he has an opportunity to grow that base even more."

Nelly has recently been in the headlines for more than his music. The 40-year-old was arrested and charged with felony possession of drugs, simple possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia on April 11, after a Tennessee state trooper pulled over his bus and found methamphetamine, marijuana and paraphernalia. That search also turned up several guns and 100 small Ziploc bags, which are sometimes used to sell narcotics. However, he has denied that any of the drugs found on the bus were his.

There is not currently a projected release date for Nelly's next dive into country music.

Quit Complaining About Modern Country Music