(Source MTV.com)

(www.NellyHQ.com)

MTV: I've heard that you consider your style to be kind of like a jazz form of hip-hop.

Nelly: It's like St. Louis blues, for sure. We definitely had that influence down there, 'cause it's definitely a soulful place. If you go down there, we've got soul food restaurants, and you can just feel that when you get there. You can just feel the people, 'cause everybody knows everybody. It's a big city, a little bit, but it's a small city in that everybody knows you. If you're doing something, they know what you're doing. If you're big, they know what you're doing. If you're big and you fell off, they know you. We just kind of incorporated that, 'cause it's just our home and it's just the way we feel.