In this post-Lil Nas X world, mixing country and rap together is nothing new. But I recall this next number one feeling like a bit of a novelty at the time…
Over and Over, by Nelly (his 3rd of four #1s) ft. Tim McGraw (his 1st and only #1)
1 week, from 27th February – 6th March 2005
Not that ‘Over and Over’ is particularly ‘country’. It’s a gentle pop song, with a lilting guitar. The most country thing about is Tim McGraw’s raspy drawl, and the Stetson he wears in the video. At the same time, this isn’t particularly a rap track either. Nelly even sings. Sort of. So, having called this ‘country rap’, in the end we’re left with more of a smooth R&B record.
That novelty feeling is about the only thing I recall about this song, as it is relatively unmemorable. It starts off lowkey, with both men singing like they’re babysitting and are just getting the kid off to sleep, but never really picks up. It’s fine. It’s a nice enough slow jam. I’m just not sure why this had the legs to make it to #1. Was it the lack of competition, and low sales? Was it Nelly’s star power? Was it said novelty factor? Whatever it was, Nelly becomes the third act in a row to enjoy a chart-topping spring follow-up to an autumnal lead single #1.
Looking into it a little more, country rap (also known, quite wonderfully, as ‘hick-hop’) had originated back in the late ‘90s. So perhaps we can view a record like this as being a breakthrough moment for the genre, with it making #1 in the UK and Australia, and #3 in the US. It is interesting that it made the top in Britain, and not America, but – like reggae – C&W has been an intermittently popular genre in the UK since the charts began.
Not only did this blending of genres lead to some of the huge country-rap hits of recent years, it also led to ‘bro-country’, in which male country stars started incorporate rapping and syncopated beats into songs about trucks, guns, beer and the like. Tim McGraw himself could be seen as a forefather of that genre. Bro-country (thankfully) hasn’t made much of an impact in the UK charts, while this is by far the biggest of Tim McGraw’s British hits, and the only one to ever make the Top 40.
This was also the tail-end of a career high for Nelly who, although he would return to the Top 10, and to #1 one final time, wouldn’t manage hit singles quite as consistently with his subsequent albums. He was always an interesting rapper, one who seemed a bit removed from the bigger, more posturing personalities of say 50 Cent or Jay-Z, and one who seemed happier to embrace a pop sound on his records. Which is probably why he has several more #1s than those more illustrious hip-hop stars.
The UK Number Ones Blog 
I think Tim McGraw deserves a bit more respect and appreciation than being labelled the “father of bro-country” lol. And that’s actually inaccurate, I wouldn’t call him anywhere close to bro-country either. McGraw is a very solid country artist more rooted in traditional country sounds despite having a country pop sound (quite a bit of his catalogue is actually rooted in southern rock and country rock). Jason Aldean, Toby Keith, Trace Adkins, Big & Rich and Montgomery Gentry I’d call more the forerunners of bro-country with the mixing of rock, country and pop and then Florida Georgia Line basically coalesced the genre together by adding more hip hop influenced production and cadences.
Anyway, yeah, you’re right this isn’t really country rap. It’s not rap at all. Nelly is basically singing the song. This just sounds like a 2000s R&B song with Tim McGraw basically being a glorified backing vocals. It’s okay. Not the best thing in the world but not the worst. Maybe like a 5 or 6 out of 10.
I dunno… He’s a bro who sings country songs… And that Stetson! I am no expert on Country and Western, but I would trace the look of current male country stars (the sound, like I said I’m no expert) back through McGraw to Garth Brooks in the early 90s.
well here’s one I’d forgotten existed! Bizarre how it has been totally forgotten by radio in the UK. This is very 2000’s US radio friendly, but not what you would call an obvious UK smash. It’s all very pleasant and Tim McGraw is largely background support as opposed to a big upfront draw. For me, Nelly was just part of the chart furniture mostly, he only ever made my top 10 once (Dilemma) and this scraped into my top 40, as in quite nice, I like it but it’s nothing special. Tim McGraw had a great duet with Gwyneth Paltrow (of all people) in Me And Tennessee, which should have been a big hit in 2011, and I liked Please Remember Me in ’99, but his greatest contribution for me has been his 4-collab generational masterpiece of 2026 with HARDY, Eric Church and Morgan Wallen, McArthur, that’s a spine-tingling song with a valid point about carrying on family history. All of those songs are much better than this track, but at least he gets a mention in lieu of them not being hits in the UK – pah!
Not hugely up on my Tim McGraw, but I like ‘Live Like You Were Dying’, a cheesily uplifting ballad.
Wasn’t aware of this, it is a weirdly low-key number one.