Until recently, the six - member St. Louis - based hip - hop crew the St. Lunatics were best known for Nelly, one of their members whose solo debut album, the 2000 release Country Grammar, went multi - platinum. But the group (Nelly, Ali, Slo Down, City Spud, Kyjuan and Murphy Lee) began working together well before Nelly's solo career blew up, and even scored a local hit in 1996 with "Gimmie What Ya Got." Two years later, they inked a deal with Universal that provided for solo albums for each of the members as well as a group album. The first St. Lunatics album, Free City, came out in 2001.