Nelly Is Recording a Country EP

Nelly is going country. The St. Louis rapper is crossing over with his first country EP.

In an interview with Billboard, Nelly’s manager J. Erving of Atom Factory revealed that Nelly has left longtime label Universal and is readying a country EP called Heartland.

“He’s a free agent on the label side now, and is working on a country-based Heartland EP, which should be really interesting,” said Erving. “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.”

This wouldn’t be Nelly’s first foray into country music. He collaborated with Tim McGraw on “Over and Over” off his 2004 album Suit, and topped the charts with Florida Georgia Line in 2013 on “Cruise (Remix).”

His last album, 2013’s M.O., debuted at No. 14 on the Billboard 200.