Nelly
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50 free Nelly trivia questions with answers — music quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
Nelly put St. Louis on the hip-hop map at the turn of the millennium with a sing-song flow, a Missouri twang and a run of singles that crossed from rap radio to pop. For a while his look was as famous as his hooks, right down to the small band-aid that fans still ask about today. This quiz answers the band-aid questions first: where he wore it, how it started and who it came to honor. From there it moves through his debut album and its follow-up, the chart-topping duets, the songs he sampled, the famous videos, and his detours into film, television, fashion and sports ownership. It suits anyone who remembers the early 2000s charts as well as fans who know the St. Lunatics by name. Every answer comes with a short explanation, so you leave knowing the story behind the strip as well as the songs.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Nelly's trademark band-aid of the early 2000s sat on which part of his face in his music videos?
Left cheek
Left cheek is where the strip sat, just under his eye, and so many fans copied the look that it became a style craze of the era.
Q 02What first put the famous band-aid on Nelly's face, before it turned into a tribute to a friend?
A basketball injury
A basketball injury came first: the strip covered a cut he picked up playing hoops with friends, and he simply kept wearing it after the cut had healed.
Q 03Nelly kept wearing his band-aid as a tribute to which jailed member of his group St. Lunatics?
City Spud
City Spud was in prison during Nelly's rise, so Nelly wore the strip to show him love while he was locked up. Spud raps a verse on "Ride wit Me" but missed its video.
Q 04In Nelly's "Dilemma" video, his co-star famously types a text message into which unlikely kind of program?
A spreadsheet
A spreadsheet on her Nokia 9210 Communicator is where she types it. The scene is remembered as the Microsoft Excel text, and Excel's official Twitter account replied when she admitted not knowing the program.
Q 05Which Destiny's Child singer duets with Nelly on "Dilemma", his second straight number one of 2002?
Kelly Rowland
Kelly Rowland sings the hook on a ballad that knocked Nelly's own "Hot in Herre" off the top of the Hot 100 and went on to spend ten weeks there.
Q 06Which country singer shares the split-screen video for Nelly's 2004 ballad "Over and Over"?
Tim McGraw
Tim McGraw sings the hook of the regret-filled duet, which topped the charts in Australia, Canada, Ireland and the United Kingdom and reached number three in the US.
Q 07Nelly's debut single "Country Grammar" borrows its melody from which children's clapping game?
Down Down Baby
Down Down Baby gave the song its singsong melody and chorus, an early taste of the schoolyard-chant style that made Nelly's hooks so easy to remember.
Q 08Nelly played inmate Earl Megget opposite Adam Sandler in which 2005 remake of a Burt Reynolds film?
The Longest Yard
The Longest Yard put Nelly on a prison football team that takes on the guards, and its soundtrack carried two of his own singles, "Errtime" and "Fly Away".
Q 09Nelly is forever tied to St. Louis, but in which city was the rapper, a military kid, actually born?
Austin
Austin, Texas, is his birthplace: his father served in the Air Force. As a teenager he moved with his mother from St. Louis to suburban University City.
Q 10Nelly wears his band-aid on the cover of which 2002 album, his second, which opened at number one?
Nellyville
Nellyville carries the strip right on its cover, and the look took off during the album's promotional run. The record sold 715,000 copies in its first week.
Q 11In which city was Nelly recording his second album when he first put the famous band-aid on?
Miami
Miami is where it started, by Nelly's own account: he was in town recording when he got whacked in the face and covered the mark with the strip.
Q 12The St. Lunatics member honored by Nelly's band-aid was serving a ten-year sentence for which crime?
Robbery
Robbery charges followed a 1999 holdup in which the victim was shot and survived. He got ten years as a first-time offender, just as Nelly was making his debut album.
Q 13Which actress copied Nelly's hat, bandana and band-aid to perform "Dilemma" on Lip Sync Battle in 2016?
Olivia Munn
Olivia Munn began the number dressed as Nelly, then pulled off the hat, bandana and strip mid-song to play his duet partner instead.
Q 21Nelly's hit "Ride wit Me" borrows from the 1982 song "I Like It" by which family group?
DeBarge
DeBarge members earned writing credits on the hit, which began life in 1999 as one of four demo songs Nelly shopped around to record labels.
Q 22Nelly's label said he would ruin his career by joining the 2002 "Girlfriend" remix by which boy band?
NSYNC
NSYNC got two brand-new Nelly verses for the single version, which reached number five and turned out to be the group's last top-ten hit.
Q 23Nelly guests on "Where the Party At", the biggest Hot 100 hit for which R&B group?
Jagged Edge
Jagged Edge spent five weeks at number three with the track, which earned a nomination in the Grammys' then-new Best Rap/Sung Collaboration category.
Q 14What is Nelly's birth name, which a fast-food chain put on its menu as a celebrity meal in 2021?
Cornell Haynes Jr.
Cornell Haynes Jr. is the name he was born with; the other three belong to fellow rappers T.I., Lil Wayne and Snoop Dogg.
Q 15Before music took over, a teenage Nelly had hoped to turn professional in which sport?
Baseball
Baseball was the plan until he moved to University City as a teenager and turned to writing rhymes. He has stayed a devoted St. Louis Cardinals fan.
Q 16Which R&B singer did Nelly meet at the 2003 Grammy Awards, date for a decade and reunite with in 2023?
Ashanti
Ashanti and Nelly split around 2013, got back together ten years later and welcomed a son in July 2024.
Q 17Nelly began the Jes Us 4 Jackie donor campaign after his sister was diagnosed with which illness?
Leukemia
Leukemia was the diagnosis, and the 2003 campaign set out to teach African Americans and other minorities about marrow transplants and to register more donors.
Q 18Which fellow St. Louis rapper opened for Nelly on tour in 2002, then feuded with him until a 2006 truce?
Chingy
Chingy fell out with Nelly after signing to Ludacris's label straight after the tour, and the two traded songs before a cousin of Nelly's helped broker peace.
Q 19Which rock band headlined the 2001 Super Bowl halftime show at which Nelly made a guest appearance?
Aerosmith
Aerosmith shared top billing with a boy band in a show titled "The Kings of Rock and Pop", with Nelly, Britney Spears and Mary J. Blige joining in.
Q 20Nelly drives a Pontiac Trans Am in his desert-road "Ride wit Me" video, inspired by which 1977 film?
Smokey and the Bandit
Smokey and the Bandit set the template: Nelly takes the Trans Am while Ali drives a big rig full of passengers. The clip won Best Rap Video at the 2001 MTV Video Music Awards.
Q 24Which production team gave Nelly "Hot in Herre", which was also their own first Hot 100 number one?
The Neptunes
The Neptunes, Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo, built the beat, and the single spent seven weeks on top before Nelly's own follow-up replaced it.
Q 25Nelly's "Hot in Herre" builds its go-go groove on the 1979 single "Bustin' Loose" by which musician?
Chuck Brown
Chuck Brown earned a co-writing credit for the borrowed groove. The track also folds in pieces of a Neil Young song and Nancy Sinatra's cover of a Rolling Stones tune.
Q 26Which soul singer, whose ballad Nelly's "Dilemma" borrows from, plays a neighbor's mother in its video?
Patti LaBelle
Patti LaBelle plays the mother of Nelly's love interest, and her song "Love, Need and Want You" supplies the melody the duet is built around.
Q 27Which pop singer joins Nelly on "Work It", whose Playboy Mansion video has a Hugh Hefner cameo?
Justin Timberlake
Justin Timberlake and Nelly play tennis at the mansion in the clip. The single stalled at number 68 on the Hot 100 but reached number seven in the UK.
Q 28Nelly's 2001 single "#1" led the soundtrack of which Denzel Washington film, whose plot its video follows?
Training Day
Training Day gets a full homage in the video, where Nelly plays both the rookie cop and the corrupt veteran, with rock guitarist Joe Perry sitting in.
Q 29Which veteran rapper traded diss records with Nelly in 2002 and urged fans to boycott his new album?
KRS-One
KRS-One released "Ova Here" and called for a boycott after Nelly answered him on a "Roc the Mic" remix. The feud fizzled once the album became a hit and both rappers moved on.
Q 30Nelly's "Shake Ya Tailfeather" with P. Diddy and Murphy Lee came from which 2003 film's soundtrack?
Bad Boys II
Bad Boys II gave Nelly his third Hot 100 chart-topper, and the song went on to win the Grammy for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group.