What is Country Rap/Hip Hop?
Country Rap/Hip Hop is the fusion of country music and hip-hop style rapping. The genre first emerged in the 1960s, but became popular in the 1980s and 1990s, with White country artists, but began to evolve with the addition of Black rappers. Country rap has been shown to be more popular in more rural areas.
Characteristics of Country Rap
Country rap has evolving characteristics:
- Hybrid style: Country music instrumentation paired with a hip-hop beat and a mixture of singing and rapping.
- Southern roots: Country rap music frequently emanates from two Southern music capitals–Atlanta, known for its hip-hop scene, and Nashville, known as the hb of country music.
Artists
Lil Nas X rose to fame with his song “Old Town Road”, that later featured Billy Ray Cyrus. Lil Nas X never received an award for being a country artist for this song, until Billy Ray Cyrus was featured, despite its heavy country influence.
Breland is most known for his song “My Truck”, that later featured Sam Hunt.
Blanco Brown has produced music for Chris Brown and Pitbull, but is mostly known for his hit single, “The Git Up”, which became a very popular line dance sound.
These artists were really never considered country artists, but just seen as Black rappers with country accents. This is another example of White people taking something we created, and trying to exclude us from it.
Collaborations
Florida Georgia Line x Nelly- Cruise (Remix)
Jason Aldean x Ludacris- Dirt Road Anthem (Remix)
Beyonce x Dixie Chicks- Daddy Lessons
This song was rejected by the Grammys as a Country song and the performance with Dixie Chicks caused a tremendous amount of controversy.
In conclusion, Country Rap has been around for decades, but due to exclusion and racism, it has been very challenging to keep this genre popular and mainstream. This affects these artists because they are not able to be properly paid and recognized for their efforts until a known Country artist is added to their songs.
This was presented by Daysha Jernigan and Chizaram Anyaegbu.
