Nelly is opening up about his decades-old beef with Eminem — and how the entire thing stemmed from a “miscommunication.”

The “Hot in Herre” rapper, 50, appeared on The Bootleg Kev podcast on Monday, March 24, and offered an apology to Eminem, 52, explaining that the two are cool now after a brief feud in the early 2000s.

“I misinterpreted something when I was really, really new and I want to apologize to Em,” Nelly said. “But I was at a time where, I’m coming in, I’m the new guy, anybody talking… Well, somehow I misinterpreted that he had something to say about what we were doing.”

In response, Nelly took a jab at the “Lose Yourself” rapper during an appearance on MTV’s Total Request Live, famously saying that he didn’t appreciate Eminem’s “sly little comments” and quipping, “I don’t play with candy. I eat M&Ms…. I just don’t think [the] dude plan[s] on coming to tour to St. Louis.”

Nelly performs onstage at the 2025 iHeartRadio Music Awards at Dolby Theatre on March 17, 2025 in Hollywood, California.Monica Schipper/Getty 

Looking back, Nelly said he “made some comments” on MTV because he was “still fresh from the Lou,” meaning his native St. Louis. He said he knows now “that wasn’t the case,” and that he considers Eminem “the GOAT.”

Even so, Eminem responded to Nelly’s TRL diss at the time by calling him out on the 2002 song “Invasion,” which is mainly thought to be directed at Ja Rule and Benzino. In the song, he references Nelly’s song “Air Force Ones,” rapping, “Stomping in my Air Force Ones/But you won’t be able to tell/If it’s two pairs or one/It’s just gonna feel like so many feet kicking you.”

Eventually, the rappers met in person at an afterparty in Detroit, with Eminem’s daughter Hailie Jade, now 29, in tow.

“Somebody came and was like, ‘Yo, Em wanna come through and holler,’” Nelly recalled on the podcast. “He was like, ‘Yo man, my daughter…’ I felt like such a dick. We were Eminem fans! And just miscommunication, man.”

Eminem performs onstage at Live from Detroit: The Concert at Michigan Central” at Michigan Central Station in June 2024 in Detroit, Michigan.Aaron J. Thornton/Getty 

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He continued, “He’s a dope cat and I’m glad we got that out of the way. It’s f—ed up when people that you f— with and that you admire on a level… it’s like, dude spits…. I’m glad we squashed that. Em is a cat.”

With their differences behind them, Eminem later shouted out Nelly in the 2003 song “The Conspiracy Freestyle” and “No Apologies” in 2006.

Both rappers are still churning out hits; Eminem released the No. 1 album The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce) in July, while Nelly is currently in the midst of a massive world tour celebrating the 25th anniversary of his debut album Country Grammar.