Nelly working on country album

Rapper Nelly is looking to expand his musical base by releasing a country album.

The Hot in Herre hitmaker, who collaborated with Tim McGraw on 2005's Over and Over, is looking to team up with more country artists for his next record.

J. Erving, who manages the rapper, tells Billboard.com, "He's a free agent on the label side now, and is working on a country-based Heartland EP, which should be really interesting.

"He may be one of the first hip-hop artists to jump into that space in an authentic way with Florida Georgia Line and Tim McGraw, so we think he has an opportunity to grow that base even more."