Nelly Shuts Down T-Pain’s Claim He Passed on “Low,” — “T-Pain lying, man.”
Written by b87fm on 09/22/2025

Paras Griffin/Getty Images | Chris Coduto/Getty Images
When Flo Rida and T-Pain dropped “Low” in 2007, it became an instant cultural moment — and gave Nelly’s Apple Bottoms Jeans brand one of the biggest shout-outs in music history. But according to Nelly, the rumors that he was first offered the record? Cap.
In a new interview with People, the three-time GRAMMY winner showed love to the duo but denied ever hearing the track before it dropped.
“Shout out to Flo and T-Pain, two great people, great artists. They killed it, man,” Nelly said.
“Certain things happen organically, and that song [was] organic because we were having the type of success we were having with Apple Bottoms at the time.”
Then, he cleared the air:
“T-Pain lying, man. I ain’t never heard that song. But everything happens for a reason. We don’t know what the song would’ve been if I did it.”
The denial comes after T-Pain claimed on Joe Budden’s Pull Up series back in 2022 that both Nelly and Paul Wall had the record before Flo Rida.
“Paul Wall had ‘Low’ first… then they gave it to Nelly because he had the Apple Bottoms franchise. Nelly said it was corny.”
Whether or not that’s true, the end result was a record-breaking run: “Low” became the longest-running No. 1 single of 2008, holding down the Billboard Hot 100’s top spot for 10 straight weeks.
Meanwhile, Nelly has been busy bringing Apple Bottoms back to life. Last year, he relaunched the line and teamed up with Bubly sparkling water for a limited “Apple Bubly Jeans” collab — even remixing “Low” for the campaign.