Your Favorite Rapper’s Favorite Band: The Country Rap Edition Posted by Nathan S. on 04/18/13 | Filed under Opinion, Favorite Rappers Favorite Band

A Note From Nathan S.: No genre has borrowed, sampled and been influenced by other genres more than hip-hop, yet hip-hop heads often ironically refuse to listen to anything outside or rap. So the homie Lucas and I have created the "Your Favorite Rapper's Favorite Band" series as a way of highlighting how connected some pretty distinctly non-hip-hop bands are to some of your favorite rap.

For the latest edition, in the wake of "Accidental Racist" I asked Lucas to take a look at intersection of hip-hop and country. Enjoy...

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For this installment of "Your Favorite Rapper’s Favorite Band", I thought it might be a good time to take a look at country music and hip-hop, thanks to LL Cool J and Brad Paisley’s awful attempt at creating harmony between two different races and genres. Now, I wont get into the awkward, questionable lyrical performance, as this isn’t the time or the place. If you want some of that, check out Nathan’s take on the cross-genre mutant child.



Why the song itself if poorly executed, the concept kind of makes sense when you look at the respective industries. Both hip-hop and country share some very similar, albeit unfortunate, characteristics. Often, the music heard on the radio, is not often the best representation of the genre. Country music runs, beer, pick-up trucks, patriotism much like hip-hop beats, money, cars, and clothes into the ground. This article from ABC covers the mainstream country music scene. Some of the issues discussed sound exactly like the issues the hip-hop community shares:

“Legendary artist Ray Price is still recording but he, too, cannot get an airing on mainstream radio. He has more than 100 tour dates scheduled next year and finds audiences can't get enough of traditional country. They complain to him they can't find it on the radio anymore, and Price says he tells them many music executives are squeezing the soul right out of country music.”

The mainstream songs, from both genres, while not “good” are definitely catchy and despite your anger and frustration, will be stuck in your head. So while it might seem a little weird to pair them together, they aren’t so different. Which is why, from a mainstream perspective, some of the previous crossover records have worked; like Jason Aldean’s “Dirt Road Anthem (Remix)” ft. Ludacris.



Now I am not a country fan by any means, I like some older stuff, but like radio rap, I don’t care for radio country; I can however appreciate it in the right setting and acknowledge its appeal. Aldean’s rapping is nothing good, in fact its pretty bad, but damn it if he cant make a hook. I thought Luda’s effort part was the best he didn’t try to do something different even though the song is out of the norm, he just stuck to his charismatic guns. Credit Michael Knox for the cool banjo inspired breakdown. For someone who is strictly a country producer, he did a great job of making the effort rapper friendly.

One effort that should be included in this discussion, for name and mainstream success alone, is Nelly’s effort, “Over and Over” ft Tim Mcgraw. I have no idea how, considering I couldn’t find one good thing to say about this song, but "Over and Over", from 2004, was very successful. The crossover collab came it at number 3 on the US Billboard hot 100, number one on the Billboard Pop Songs, and topped the chart in Ireland, New Zealand and the UK. The song didn’t work for me because it felt like both artist were trying out an R&B sound that didn’t turn out so well. I want to hear Nelly rap, not sing and I definitely don’t want Mcgraw to try anymore R&B. What worked in the Luda, Aldean cut, was both artists stayed in their lanes, but Mcgraw and Nelly did not, and the song suffered as a result.



Not all Country/hip-hop collaborations are mad for the radio, and are significantly more enjoyable than a radio friendly collab. Snoop Dogg teamed up with Willie Nelson on two songs about what else…weed. Nelson is like the Snoop of the country music scene--he smokes about the same amount and has been making music for ages--so when the two get together it is pretty cool to hear what comes of it. Check out “Superman” and “My Medicine” below.





The thing that, in my opinion, makes these awesome if that it shows where the roots of both genres come from; the blues. You can hear how similar, in storytelling, rhythm, and soul, the genres really are and that is thanks to the blues. Music genres are often viewed as totally separate and different, but songs like these show that no matter how far apart genres may seem (i.e. country and hip-hop) they all share the same roots. So when done in the right way, country and hip-hop do go quite well together.

P.S- This cover of Gin and Juice by the Gourds is one of my favorite covers of all time. I couldn’t squeeze it in but wanted to share it.