#literally while i was typing this bar song (tipsy) by shaboozy came on and i was like YEAHHHHH

[zeldahime]

country is going through a really interesting moment of syncretism with hip-hop and i'm so happy to be alive for it

they've been in conversation for a long time now, like, that's what you get when you have two vibrant music scenes from the same roots in the same place*, but it's gone past "c-tier country guys put in a trap beat and pose like soundcloud rappers"

(*country has roots in scottish & irish folk music and blues; hip-hop emerged as a distinct genre in the 70s and ultimately derives from soul and rhythm & blues. while i'm given to understand hip-hop started in nyc it's definitely a wide-spread thing in the south & atlanta and memphis (tennessee) are major centers for it—and atlanta and nashville (tennesse) are major centers for country. )

like i think it started to happen way back around old town road (ilu lil nas x) but ever since beyonce released her country record i've heard a lot of hip-hop artists crossing over, like jellyroll and shaboozy and even post malone. and like i said, country artists have been incorporating trap beats and rap verses for a while already

i don't know if anyone's crossing over the other way, since i don't listen to a lot of hip-hop? like i listen to it more incidentally, don't know a whole lot about it as a Scene. answers on a postcard.

and like my favorite part of this is that it's not like, elvis coming on the scene with all his dance moves (that he learned from black people) and guitar tricks (that he learned from black people) and awesome hair (that he got from gay people) and

actual black people are the ones coming in with their influences from the actual hip hop scene, and they're not in (much) country cosplay, they're crossing over and black artists are charting

and even when it's covers like luke combs doing fast car, which isn't a hip-hop influenced song in the slightest but is germane to the discussion of black people in country music, as far as i can tell every single time he played it he was like "this is by traci chapman MY PERSONAL ROLE MODEL AND GODDESS" which is 1) the exact correct amount of respect everyone should pay to traci chapman and also 2) puts her, a black lesbian country artist, back on the charts welllll after she's retired and makes her a gazillion dollars in royalties.

country's becoming more interesting and more diverse and more obviously, visibly diverse and i am genuinely thrilled to see it