Nelly’s Apple Bottoms Jeans brand garnered a big shout-out on Flo Rida and T-Pain’s massive hit song “Low.” But Nelly denies that he was ever offered to record the song.
During a recent interview, Nelly gave his side of the story.
“Shout out to Flo and T-Pain, two great people, great artists. They killed it, man,” said the three-time Grammy winner in a new People interview. “Certain things happen organically, and that song [was] organic because we were having the type of success that we were having with Apple Bottoms at the time.”
“T-Pain lying, man. I ain’t never heard that song,” Nelly said. “But everything happens for a reason. You know what I mean? We don’t know what the song would’ve been if I did it.”
During an episode of Joe Budden’s former show Pull Up in 2022, T-Pain claimed that “Low” was rejected by Nelly and Paul Wall before going to Flo Rida.
“I did the hook to ‘Low’ and ‘Shawty’ in the same night,” T-Pain told Budden, noting that the demo for “Low” was sent to “a bunch of f**king people.”
“Paul Wall had ‘Low’ first, but he did it, and it was a dope version of it, but Atlanta [Records] didn’t like it. And then they gave it to Nelly because he had the Apple Bottoms franchise,” T-Pain recalled. “Nelly said it was corny.”
After being on hiatus for a decade, Nelly relaunched Apple Bottoms Jeans last year. On a new campaign, he collaborated with Bubly sparkling water for a limited-edition collection of Apple Bubly Jeans. For the campaign, Nelly remixed “Low,” referencing the classic chorus: “Shawty got them Apple Bottom jeans, boots with the fur / The whole club was looking at her.” (The new version, however, swaps the name for “Apple Bubly Jeans.”)
Released in 2007, “Low” was the longest-running number-one single of 2008 in the United States. The song would spend 10 consecutive weeks at the top of the Billboard Hot 100.