Maybe I’m just tired and should go to bed, but I’m wondering if anyone has tried rapping to country music? I mean anyone commercially successful, that is.
Is a stock show auctioneer essentially a country rapper? I think there’s some commercial possibilities here.
There is at least one commercially succesful “country rapper”. He calls himself Cowboy Troy, and his music style “hick hop”.
A stock show auctioneer isn’t a rapper any more than a carpenter is a drummer.
The answer to your questions depends on how much country you want in the music and how much the vocal can be considered rapping.
First, it should be established that a rapid speaking style of singing isn’t rapping - for a start, it’s been a staple of musical theatre since the days of Gilbert and Sullivan, and no, rapping was invented by a couple of English white guys.
However, given that, te best candidates are:
Kid Rock - He added country to that whole rap/metal thing that was big years ago. What he was doing probably was rapping, albeit very poorly, but it was so horrible that no-one considered him to be part of rap music, and I really hope that country guys had the good taste not to consider him part of their scene either.
Cowboy Troy - He does that speak/sing thing over definitely country music, and I understand that he is accepted by the CMT crowd. He calls his music “hick-hop,” but his rapping is more novelty than serious MCing, and it’s unlikely that he’ll be appearing on any Nas tracks any time soon. Also, he’s a black guy doing country music, which probably helps him sell the idea that he’s a rapper. The biggest similarity to hip hop in his music is actually his lyrical style rather than his vocal style, “I already been on the CMA’s, Hell Tim McGraw said he liked the change,” is a couplet that could easily fit into many rap songs if you changed “CMA’s” to “Source Awards,” and “Tim McGraw” to “Jigga”. Nevertheless, Cowboy Troy is country act first, rap novelty second.
Big And Rich - Couple of guys who also do the sing/speak thing, and are mostly described as country rap because they have goofy lyrics about “bling bling.” It’s good stuff, but they only sound like rap if you’ve actually never heard rap music.
Trace Adkins - He had a song called “Honky Tonk Badonkadonk.” It’s country. But he says “badonkadonk.” Still, one slang term doesn’t make a rap song. You’ll get a kick out of the song if you think the title is funny, but be warned: the title is the best thing about the track.
Bubba Sparxxx - Aha! Finally we might have a candidate. Big white guy from rural Georgia who is most certainly part of the hip hop scene - he’s a good rapper who’s done tracks with Petey Pablo, Missy Elliott, Big Boi (from Outkast), Rich Boy and a whole host of other Southern rappers and was signed and produced by big name producer Timbaland. And many of his tracks have definite country leanings - “Comin’ Round,” for instance flips a bluegrass sample, and “Jimmy Mathis,” has a great fiddle and acoustic guitar hook. But, let’s be honest, Bubba, as much as he raps about moonshine and pick-up trucks over country instrumentation, is never going to wrestle Toby Keith’s audience away from him. He’s probably not even as country as Cowboy Troy is hip hop.
So, in conclusion, there have been a few artists from each genre that have flirted with elements of the other, but none that could be said to have truly crossed over and gain widespread acceptance amongst both sets of fans. Still… we can dream. One day there’ll be someone who will have videos on CMT and BET at the same time. And it will be beautiful.
The Asylum Street Spankers cover The Beastie Boys Paul Revere and have their own Hick Hop song on the album Mercurical.
If you get a chance, see them live, their CDs don’t do them justice.
I forget who did it, but there’s a really good bluegrass cover of Snoop Dogg’s Gin N’ Juice.
Sam Stone: The Gourds. It’s frequently mis-attributed to Phish.
I think someone needs to do a rap of Folsom Prison Blues – that would be cool (should I have spelled that with a k?
Depending on your definition of “rap,” I’d say Johnny Cash is way ahead of you on this.
That should be “was NOT invented by a couple of English white guys.”
Gah.
Canadian independent rapper Buck 65 often incorporates elements of country music, like slide guitars, into his music. I’ve heard him described as “Johnny Cash with a turntable.”
“Hick Hop” was originally on Wammo’s solo album, Faster than the Speed of Suck. It made its way into the Spankers set and then onto Mercurial. (I prefer the Spankers version, personally.)
“The devil went down to Georgia / He was lookin’ for a soul to steal / He was in a bind cuz he was way behind / And he was willin’ to make a deal” is more than a little rappy, if you think about it.