"Ride wit Me" is a song by American rapper Nelly. It was released on March 10, 2001, as the third single from his debut studio albumCountry Grammar. The song features City Spud. "Ride wit Me" peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100 in the week of June 23, 2001. Outside the United States, "Ride wit Me" peaked within the top ten of the charts in Australia, Netherlands, Norway, Ireland, and the United Kingdom.
Background
"Ride wit Me" features a sound similar to "Get Down on It" by Kool and the Gang; indeed, it is in the same key and uses almost identical chord progressions in the refrain alone. The song samples lines from the song "I Like It" by DeBarge, specifically those which read: "I like the way you brush your hair, and I like those stylish clothes you wear". The official remix was also produced by Jason "Jay E" Epperson and then placed in Nelly's remix album, . It also features City Spud's verse from the original and John Mayer on the guitar. It samples Mayer's single, "No Such Thing".
Chart performance
In the United States, "Ride wit Me" became Nelly's highest charting single at the time, peaking at number three on the Billboard Hot 100. In the United Kingdom, "Ride wit Me" debuted and peaked at number three on the UK Singles Chart, becoming Nelly's highest charting song in Britain until October 2002, when his duet with Kelly Rowland, "Dilemma", became his first UK chart-topping single.
Music video
The video is largely inspired by the 1977 filmSmokey and the Bandit, and also makes reference to the 1980s TV showThe Dukes of Hazzard and the film Cool Hand Luke. The plot of the video sees Nelly and Ali driving to a dilapidated bar occupied by Kyjuan, Slo-Down and Murphy Lee to throw a party. Ali drives a Peterbilt 379 truck filled with women, while Nelly drives a 1978 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am along a desert road, as the video follows their journey and eventual encounters with police, hitchhikers and other roadside incidents. The video culminates with their arrival and a party taking place outside the bar. Featured artist City Spud provides the third verse; however, due to being incarcerated, he does not appear in the music video and his lines are lip-synced by Nelly and Ali. The music video won Best Rap Video at the MTV Video Music Awards in 2001. The video also received a nomination for Viewer's Choice. A Philadelphia 76ers version of the song was released during the 2001 NBA Finals.
It was featured in the parody filmScary Movie 2 during the credits, and was subsequently featured very briefly in the films Soul Plane, Are We There Yet?, Bride and Prejudice and Invisible Children. It was also featured in Scrubs, Friends, King of the Hill, The Cleveland Show, and Atlanta. In a scene from the Glee episode "Throwdown", New Directions can be seen having a jam session, and they sing the first chorus and first verse of this song. Accompanying the jam are Finn Hudson on drums, and Noah "Puck" Puckerman on guitar. The version seen on Glee was not recorded in the studio like most of the songs featured on Glee, but was sung during filming by the actors. A new version has been used in a Honey Nut Cheerios commercial sung as "Must Be the Honey", which features Nelly talking to its mascot, Buzz. Nelly joined Florida Georgia Line to perform "Ride wit Me" and "Cruise" at the 2013 American Music Awards. It was also featured in Ted 2, where Ted changed its lyrics. It is also mentioned in the novelTwelve by Nick McDonell. English singer Anne-Marie references this song, as well as five others, in the chorus of her 2018 single "2002". An instrumental version of this song also appeared in the Lowe's commercials between 2005 and 2006.
