As I was driving to work yesterday morning I was listening to the Joey & Heather Morning Show on Okc's Wild104.9 and the topic of discussion was Nelly's appearance on the remix to the song Cruise by Florida Georgia Line. It was mentioned that Nelly is losing his credibility as a rapper by appearing on this song. This statement peaked my interest. I wonder how someone doing a collaboration on another artist's album could possibly make him lose his credibility, especially when that person is a main stream Rap/Pop artist to start with. Rap music comes from legends such as Run DMC who done one of the first crossovers ever on the single "Walk This Way" with Aerosmith. And while I am sure both groups received some kind of negative feedback from that small group of arrogant individuals that populate our society, for the most part the reception was positive and uplifting if you will. So my question is this, why is there a negative stigma on rappers going country and does it seem like country music is taking over the hip hop world?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmZ9xRO7M9M (Flordia Georgia Line feat. Nelly - Cruise)
It surprised me to hear the remarks about Nelly, especially since this is the same rapper who released his 2004 single, "Over and Over" featuring country singer Tim McGraw and it was one of the best selling singles of his career. Was it the country fans that showed more support or the loyal rap fans? Either way, Nelly made a killing and I still play the song a few times back to back myself. The whole discussion made me curious as to just how many Rap-Country songs are really out there. While I don't consider country music to be one of my personal favorites, I am an avid music lover and I do enjoy any song that has a nice sound, rhythm, beat or feel to it. Kid Rock and Cheryl Crow's "Picture" is one song that will never get old with me.
Upon my quest to find as many Country-Rap or Rap-Country duos as I could, I found a few that even I didn't know existed and I must say that if anyone if the world of Rap should lose cool points for being on a Country record then I would give that honor to Snoop Lion (formerly Snoop Dogg). His collaboration on the "song" Superman with Country legend Willie Nelson is one that I am still scratching my head on trying to figure out what made this idea feasible. Ahhhh, yes, I get it now... A little puff puff give if you know what I mean. I am not sure that it should even be considered a song, but nonetheless, Snoop Dogg (or Lion) still has his "stripes" in tact, so why are folks so harsh on Nelly?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-weOXYqWmr8 (Willie Nelson & Snoop Dogg - Superman)
Another single, one that I never would have imagined existed is "Thug Story" by T-Pain and Taylor Swift, or T-Swizzle & T-Weezy. Now, I know this is not a "true" single but the fact that Taylor Swift is rapping about being a gangster and thug is hilarious to me, but I will give Ms. Swift credit, she does rhyme better than some career rappers I've come across in my day. Other artists such as Ludacris and Jason Aldean (Dirt Road Anthem remix), Blake Shelton on his single "Boys Round Here" (although he doesn't feature any rappers, he does sing about doing the dougie and has -for lack of a better term, thugs- in his video line dancing) and then you have the group Rehab, who are considered a country, rap, rock alternative group. Songs like, Bartender have all of the elements of a good country song, with a nice rap beat. I myself heard the track Drinking Problem and immediately started looking for more.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aED6ONapfVA (Rehab - Drinking Problem)
So, is it safe to say that Country is moving in on the Hip Hop world or is it just a few mixtures between the two and we are so used to separation that the thought of combining the two genres upsets us. Nas himself said Hip Hop is dead, so are country artists trying to revive it? I'll let you be the judge, for me music is expression and if Nelly wants to express himself on a country track while Taylor Swift expresses herself over auto-tune, then more power to them both..... I'll leave you with the link to a few CouRap/RaCo songs and you be the judge for yourself
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xH4r00SJHsI (Jason Aldean feat. Ludacris - Dirt Road Anthem)
Until next time, this is Misses S.A.M, signing out !
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