Nelly and Ashanti have kept their relationship on the hush-hush for the past few years, but the R&B songstress is dishing the dirt on when the two first met. In Nelly’s upcoming “Behind the Music” special, the former Murder Inc. mami explains that she played hard to get when he first approached her.

“The first time I met Nelly he asked me for my autograph, but I think he was being sarcastic and I remember writing it down on the program,” recalls the R&B princess of running into her beau at a press conference for the 2003 Grammy Awards. “That picture has been in so many publications as something else but it all started out as a joke. For the record, it took him a long time to get my number.”

Though the couple has gotten hot and heavy over the years, the “Just a Dream” rapper previously revealed that he’s in no rush to tie the knot. “I think you really have to be friends first. It’s not about how long it takes,” Nelly told Rap-Up TV. “I’m not a person that wants to get married more than once. If I’ma do it, I’ma do it. You’re dying if you leave me.”

Nelly’s “Behind the Music” episode airs March 7 at 10 p.m. EST on VH1.