Nelly Respects Macklemore’s Independent Hustle

Nelly, famously from St. Louis, also has some serious ties to the city of Charlotte as a part-owner of their NBA team, alongside a little someone named Michael Jordan. So when Jordan brought the franchise's old "Hornets" nickname back to the team this offseason, Nelly went on Charlotte's Kiss 95.1 to speak on the change—and to toss in his opinion on Macklemore in the process.

"You know why I like him?" Nelly asked of Macklemore on the program. "Because he’s independent. I respect hustle...I know what it’s like to sit there and have labels tell you that your talent isn’t good enough to make it. For someone like Macklemore to do it independently and to really just give the middle finger up to the labels now, it’s awesome."

Nelly rose to become one of the biggest selling artists of the past decade after being famously passed on by ten record labels before signing what would turn out to be a lucrative contract with Universal Republic. The Midwestern rapper made waves recently when dropping his new video featuring Pharrell and Nicki Minaj, titled "Get Like Me" (above), the first single off his long-awaited new album, M.O., due out later this year.