Nelly insists his legal trouble is behind him

Hip-hop star Nelly has revealed all of his recent legal problems have been handled.

The Hot in Herre hitmaker was arrested in 2015 for felony drug possession when Tennessee state troopers found narcotics paraphernalia on his tour bus and just a year later (16) he was slapped with a $2 million (£1.6 million) tax lien by America's Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

But the star insists everything is all good nowadays and his trouble with the law is officially over.

"The arrests, I mean I was detained; I wasn't arrested," he clarifies to Rolling Stone magazine. "I don't have any charges. The IRS was something that was taken care of in the next couple weeks."

In a bid to help clear his name following the tax bill, Nelly's fans banded together to raise money online using the hashtag #SaveNelly, and although the 42-year-old appreciated the gesture, he insists he never needed financial help.

"I've got a quarter of a million dollars of diamond earrings in my (ear)," he notes before laughing, "I think they (IRS agents) would come for that (if I were broke)."

"I mean, there were some f**ked-up moments," he adds, "but I was never down. It was a situation where I needed to clean up business. We all go through that. But that was it. I cleaned it up and now we're doing what we do."

Nelly is focused on the future right now and he is looking to use antagonism and bad press to push himself forward in life.

"I don't think I'd know what to do if I wasn't doubted. I wouldn't know how to channel my energy," he shares. "I wouldn't know how to take that and put it into what I'm doing that winds up breaking ground." musicnews.com