The group formed when the members were students at
Western Kentucky University. Nappy Roots' debut independent album
Country Fried Cess was released in 1998, which led to the group being signed by
Atlantic Records. Their first album on Atlantic was 2002's best selling hip-hop album,
Watermelon, Chicken & Gritz. The multi-platinum album featured the hit-singles "Headz Up", "Awnaw", and "Po' Folks". The "Awnaw (Remix)" featuring
Marcos of
P.O.D. appeared on
Madden 2003. In their home state,
Paul E. Patton, the
governor of Kentucky, sanctioned September 16 as "Nappy Roots Day". Their next and last album with Atlantic Records was
Wooden Leather, released in 2003, featuring the singles "Roun' the Globe", which was featured on
Madden 2004, and "Sick and Tired" (featuring
Anthony Hamilton). This critically acclaimed, major label follow-up album featured production from
Kanye West,
David Banner and
Lil Jon. Also in 2003, Nappy Roots were on the
soundtrack to
Daredevil, with the song "Right Now", which featured
Marcos Curiel of
P.O.D. and was released on
Windup Records. In 2004, three songs by Nappy Roots were included in the movie soundtrack to
The Ladykillers, released on
Sony Music. Since the release of
Wooden Leather they have gone back to being independent artists, and have started their own label, N.R.E.G. (Nappy Roots Entertainment Group) with distribution through Fontana/
Universal Music Group. On July 31, 2007, they released their first album as independent artists,
Innerstate Music, featuring singles "Good Day" and "Keep It Real". This was actually an internet album, similar to a modern-day
mixtape. It was intended to be a precursor to their 2008 album,
The Humdinger, which was released on August 5, 2008. In 2007 Nappy Roots was featured on the original version of the
Tantric song titled "Fall Down". The song had originally been intended for Tantric's album
Tantric III, but due to the album being shelved, the song went unreleased. However, Tantric did re-record the song for their 2008 album
The End Begins. The version featuring Nappy Roots can only be found on YouTube. The critically acclaimed album
The Humdinger features guest appearances from
Anthony Hamilton,
Greg Nice, Greg Street and Slick & Rose, with production from Sol Messiah, James "Groove" Chambers, BIG AL 360, Joe Hop and more. The album entered the
Billboard Rap Charts at No. 7 and R&B/Hip-Hop Albums at No. 13. In 2009 the single "We're Gonna Make it" by Skinny and Scales was released through Nappy Roots Entertainment Group. Nappy Roots kicked off 2010 with their highly anticipated new album,
The Pursuit of Nappyness, released on June 15, 2010. The album features songs by Phivestarr Productions, a production duo from
Atlanta, Georgia. In 2011, Nappy Roots teamed up with hip hop producers
Organized Noize to create
Nappy Dot Org. The first single, "Congratulations", was made available online on July 13, 2011, by way of
XXL Magazine and 2DopeBoyz. On October 11, 2011, Nappy Roots released
Nappy Dot Org, entirely produced by Organized Noize. The
Nappy Roots Presents Sh!ts Beautiful album/mixtape was released on June 27, 2012, through
AllHipHop. In 2015, Nappy Roots released their most recent album,
The 40 Akerz Project. In August 2017, "Good Day" was on President
Barack Obama's summertime playlist. In 2018, the
Cincinnati Bengals featured Nappy Roots song "Good Day" in their promotional video "Seize the DEY". They also released a single at the same year together with
Vitas called "Roll With the Beat". ==Singles==