Randy Rogers: “There Shouldn’t Be Rap in Country Music.”
This has never been about hating other genres. It’s about respecting all genres. You think true country fans feel ashamed when they see Florida Georgia Line out there making fools of themselves by trying to rap verses and battle the air with hip-hop hand gesticulations? Then what do you think hip-hop fans think when they see a couple of well-heeled white guys from the affluent suburbs stealing their art form and influences?
But that doesn’t mean all hip-hop is bad. Similar to country, most of the good stuff gets relegated to the underground, or is “critically-acclaimed” like Kendrick Lamar. Imagine if you judged the totality of country music on what they played on Top 40?
There’s nothing wrong with any genre of music, pop included. It’s just not country. And unlike other genres, country music from the very beginning was not about maintaining a modern sound, it was about preserving the musical traditions of the past. That is why country music becomes such a battlefield when commercial enterprises attempt to stretch the boundaries of the genre until all of the roots of the music are lost.
The Randy Rogers Band out of Texas will be releasing a new highly-anticipated Dave Cobb-produced record in 2018, and Randy Rogers wants to let you know that it will be country—real country. Sometimes The Randy Rogers Band is cited as one of the examples of the pop style of country in the Texas market, but what those criticisms rarely take into account is that for four records during the heart of their career, The Randy Rogers Band wasn’t recording records for the Texas market, they were signed to Nashville major labels. All you have to do is listen to Randy’s side project with Wade Bowen Hold My Beer to hear the true country foundations are still there.
Currently touring on the West Coast, Randy Rogers was interviewed by the Spokesman-Review in Spokane, and helped put into context the hatred of rap in country that many feel.
“People can tell the difference between (B.S.) and not (B.S.). I’ll second the motion to say there shouldn’t be rap in country music,” Randy Rogers says. “But I will go on the record saying I like Kendrick Lamar. I like my rap. But when I think of country music, I think of Merle Haggard.”
Often newer “country” artists will say how they grew up listening to rap and country side by side, and that’s the reason their music includes both influences. But just because you enjoy rap, like Randy Rogers does, that doesn’t mean it has a place in country.
“We grew up on fiddle and steel in Texas. We learned to play guitar from Willie Nelson records. It’s part of the fabric of who we were,” says Randy Rogers. “You can’t take that out . . . That’s been the music from day one with this band.”
As for what fans can expect from the new record? “We’ve made records before where there were country songs on the record, but this one, the songs are as country as anything we’ve made,” Rogers said. “They’re ‘Strait’ country. I say that with respect. George Strait is my biggest hero.”
January 20, 2018 @ 9:45 am
Looking forward to this, awesome news. We need more people/groups setting the record straight like this.
January 20, 2018 @ 9:47 am
Second sentence of your third paragraph needs to be on a billboard in Nashville
January 20, 2018 @ 9:52 am
There shouldn’t be rap.
January 20, 2018 @ 11:47 am
In general
January 20, 2018 @ 12:05 pm
Are you asking me a question, or agreeing with me?
Your sentence ends with neither period nor question mark.
January 20, 2018 @ 8:16 pm
I’m more confused that 5 people liked it. Thumbs up for ambiguity!
January 21, 2018 @ 11:07 am
i was saying there shouldn’t be rap in general
January 21, 2018 @ 11:27 am
Agreed.
January 21, 2018 @ 12:20 pm
He doesn’t actually agree with you James. He’s lying. Because he can. He now knows you are a racist and you’re on his list to be destroyed.
January 21, 2018 @ 12:32 pm
That’s sooooooooooo city slicker of you Lordy of Honksteriea Leysorcrumbs to follow for eternity oh evil one. Such a person not to turn our backs on, slithering around like that. We’re bigger than you, smarter than you and we have guns, why would you even try? The government is shut down, it’s time to know where your guns are boys. Livestock and women get inside, the world is about to end robots are here, they’ve been around a long time. We invent what we need, and that’s friends, but you keep losing them all the time. You really feel people bend like bamboo? Where did you get that idea from?
January 21, 2018 @ 1:07 pm
Did you see how I did that?
They say there is a time and place for everything. Don’t they? Whoever this they are.
That would have to include Rape, Murder. Right, they are a part of everything. Whatever. So is INTERNET BULLYING. So get him. Get him right there. Bully him out of here. Take at look what Bullying is for. James is next. I’d keep it online if I were you. There are cameras everywhere, otherwise there is a time a place for everything right? Or what’s that all about. Everything? No smoking jacket when you are washing cars. That’s disgusting and it shouldn’t be a part of everything. It just shouldn’t. Freedom of everything right. The military isn’t going to be running for a while get your guns, and get your cameras, get a lawyer. But that’s America. So see how I did it. Bully. Lord Honsktermonsterperson off this place, but lock your doors and get your guns.
January 21, 2018 @ 8:10 pm
This is blatantly racist.
January 22, 2018 @ 6:35 am
That’s an interesting take. How did you arrive there?
January 20, 2018 @ 9:59 am
He’s right. I suppose hip hop has a place in the landscape of modern culture, but it has no place in country music.
January 20, 2018 @ 6:00 pm
Rap is not true country music
January 21, 2018 @ 11:17 am
So sick of artist tchosing personal gain by putting rap and hip hop in country music. I cannot listen to country anymore, it not country anymore. I love country music, we need to protect it.
January 20, 2018 @ 10:00 am
Hell, there shouldn’t even be what is now called “country”, in country…
January 20, 2018 @ 10:04 am
To paraphrase Kirby Smart says, real country artists just need to keep chopping wood. Eventually, the effervescent nature of the current version of “country music” will blow away.
January 20, 2018 @ 8:20 pm
*evanescent
Ephemeral works, too.
January 21, 2018 @ 1:25 pm
Are you saying Randy Rogers is Ephemeral? I’m sorry, I had to look it up:
e·phem·er·al
əˈfem(ə)rəl/
adjective
1.
lasting for a very short time.
“fashions are ephemeral”
synonyms: transitory, transient, fleeting, passing, short-lived, momentary, brief, short; More
Or
ef·fer·ves·cent
ˌefərˈves(ə)nt/
adjective
1.
(of a liquid) giving off bubbles; fizzy.
synonyms: fizzy, sparkling, carbonated, aerated, gassy, bubbly
“an effervescent drink”
2.
vivacious and enthusiastic.
“effervescent young people”
Do they want to protect country music? Get your guns, oil them up, gather ammunition. It is war.
What conversation are you having? Get your act together now cause the NSA is a part of the government which is on shut down, stick to undercover frequencies to be safe!
January 22, 2018 @ 3:33 am
Well I was just being cunty by correcting Batterycap’s incorrect use of the word “effervescent” and supplying him with two viable options. I’ve got nothing whatsoever to say about Randy Rogers.
January 20, 2018 @ 10:32 am
What does this mean?
“We’ve made records before where there were country songs on the record, but this one, the songs are as country as anything we’ve made”
January 20, 2018 @ 10:47 am
Yeah, that’s a very strange comment.
January 20, 2018 @ 11:07 am
In my opinion, he’s acknowledging that a significant amount of what he does isn’t truly Country Music, but that some of it is.
And he’s right, most Texas Country is more Rock than Country.
March 4, 2018 @ 6:15 pm
A lot of Texas Country has a rock influence. Pat Green had a lot to do with that.
January 20, 2018 @ 11:00 am
Is country music considered an academic art form here? Then you might be right and very few are staying true to the art no matter what music they grew up with or listen to at home. Or are you looking for the real thing? A person who plays guitar, sings and is isolated from tv, grows their own food, doesn’t listen to music outside barn dances, or get news that doesn’t have to do with farming weather or cattle ranches?
Maybe you just have to create your own museum with different rooms for outlaw, southern, western of different years, and invite acts to play that are true each of the different rooms. Give a lecture and serve wine and cheese.
January 20, 2018 @ 2:55 pm
“Maybe you just have to create your own museum with different rooms for outlaw, southern, western of different years, and invite acts to play that are true each of the different rooms. Give a lecture and serve wine and cheese.”
Change “Southern” to “Rockabilly” and serve Lone Star instead of wine, and you pretty much just described Dale Watson’s Ameripolitan.
I think country music must evolve. But it also most preserve the roots in the music for it to remain country. I also think the work of Dale Watson and others to preserve the strict interpretations of country in the modern context to keep those dialects alive is very important work.
January 21, 2018 @ 12:42 pm
What I meant to say Trigger, before you get too emotional and loose everything. Was MAYBE YOU SHOULD DO AN INTERACTIVE ONLINE MUSEUM AND DO VIDEOS OF SMOKING JACKET ATTIRED COUNTY MUSIC DJ HOSTED, SPONSORED, VIDEO, INTERVIEWS speaking of lowercase albert washing his car in a smoking jacket would be left to interpretation.
That wasn’t a threat.
January 20, 2018 @ 11:10 am
I don’t think we can escape the parallels present the in ‘evolution’ of pop music and the ‘ evolution ( devolution ? )’ of country music .
In the 30’s 40’s and into the 50’s we had the incredible music which went on to create the GREAT AMERICAN SONGBOOK . This music , as we all know , has survived the tests of time over and over again as newer generations of artists discover and record it and appreciate how it continues to resonate with people . These superbly crafted songs were written by superb song craftsmen…..ARTISTS . They were not only lyrically timeless in terms of tapping into universal emotions but remain the template for the best of what is written today . Add to that some of the most sophisticated musical arrangements played by schooled , gifted virtuosos ..masters of their respective instruments ….and you have a ‘can’t miss’ formula for creating some of THE most wonderful music ever.
And then came Buddy Holly , Elvis and early rock and roll . It was the antithesis , in many ways of all of the aforementioned . And it became popular enough to derail and dethrone the great writers and players who came before it . Once the lower common denominator was tapped into it became harder and harder to market the Great American Songbook to the audiences of that young ‘boom ‘ generation. .Advertisers , sponsors , labels and business people knew they could not afford to rock THAT boat . The business end of it found a lower and lower common denominator . Lyrical and musical creativity suffered and has , commercially , never really bounced back . BUT thanks to many,many artists keeping it alive today , we do still have that timeless songbook to remind us of how it was BEFORE money dictated its terms to artists and a listener’s spirit .
Country music has devolved drastically since its early days . Its not even arguable that is has lost most of the hallmarks of the form which made it unique , gave it an identity , connected it to real life and real emotion ,and gave rise to a set of instruments rarely found together in the same musical setting and players whose passion for those instruments showed us possibilities unimaginable . A new ‘version’ of ‘country music’ has searched out and targeted an even lower common denominator than much pop music did and the money has followed its aim . BUT …we still have artists and creative individuals who are passionate about preserving and passing on country music’s timeless greatness without concern for the money people who’ve ignored it . Just as we still have passionate artists of vision who respect and understand the importance and the value of the Great American Songbook in ensuring this standard is always present , accessible , shared and there to inspire generations of caring writers, vocalists and musicians to come . ‘ Bro ‘ will be seen as country music’s ‘ mullet ‘ in time . Laughable , forgettable and , ultimately , useless in preserving , contributing to or furthering the cause the way people like Stapleton , Margo Price , and so many others currently outside mainstream are doing for us . Its on us to support their efforts to ensure REAL country music survives ,thrives and inspires the way the Great American Songbook continues to do .
January 20, 2018 @ 11:19 am
This could be the pamphlet for the museum.
January 20, 2018 @ 11:21 am
I love sarcasm, obviously, but I’m struggling to understand your point. Care to explain?
January 21, 2018 @ 10:34 am
So what you’re saying is you can Sympathize? Sympathy is tricky. The new currency is Empathy. Empathy is where it’s at.
January 20, 2018 @ 11:21 am
Maybe you’ll be invited to give the lecture portion of the series.
January 20, 2018 @ 11:23 am
You can wear a velvet smoking jacket and a neck scarf and carry a pipe.
January 20, 2018 @ 4:27 pm
………why wouldn’t I ,Leroy ..? I wear that working on my car or cleaning my windows .
January 20, 2018 @ 4:51 pm
Once again Albert, you are spot on! I’m singing baritone in your choir! Send me a proof copy of “the pamphlet”.
January 21, 2018 @ 10:27 am
And I’ll just politely ask for .5% of the revenues from the Greatest Museum on Earth! I’ll even sit on the board, (to ensure it’s success), since most of the meetings and important decisions now can be handled online.
April 22, 2022 @ 9:19 am
You talk to much….narcissist much?
January 20, 2018 @ 11:11 am
I believe Gregg Allman said it best , rap is short for crap and now supposed to be country singers are using rap in what is supposed to be country music. Please stop it or stop trying to sing altogether.
January 21, 2018 @ 2:27 pm
“supposed to be country singers” (?) (!) Who’s he talking about?!
“rap is short for crap”
“supposed to be country music” What does all this mean?
Please stop it
stop trying to “sing” altogether. What does sing mean? Why are they doing it all together? Why do they do it at all? Why does anyone do anything at all together? I just don’t get it.
January 20, 2018 @ 11:23 am
The first time I heard” Interstate”, wow, it was like if Country music tatooed my heart and my soul…can’t wait for this new baby..
January 20, 2018 @ 12:48 pm
There is no genre of music called country rap. It’s either country, or rap. People shouldn’t be getting characterized for the genre of music they like/make. I myself like all genres of music. If you go to iTunes or wherever and hit genre there is no country rap. People can still be “country” and make rap music. It upsets me that we are in 2018 and people are getting viewed by the genre of music they are in. Pitiful. If you want to make whatever genre of music do it. Don’t listen to these average Joe’s.
January 20, 2018 @ 6:33 pm
I myself like all genres of music.
No you don’t. You don’t even know how many genres there are, let alone are able to name them all. You CAN’T like all genres of music. There is literally not enough time in the day to familiarize yourself with even a tenth of them. And even if you were able to like all genres of music, that’s not really anything to brag about. It only means that your knowledge of music is 10,000 miles wide and an inch deep, which gives you no credibility at all when it comes to talking about stuff like this.
January 20, 2018 @ 9:36 pm
Colt Ford may want to have a little talk with you about your comment.
January 21, 2018 @ 7:51 am
I’ve already tried to get ahold of him at average Joe’s ENT. He has yet to get back to me. All I want to do in life is make music but it seems that no matter who you get ahold of they never answer back
January 20, 2018 @ 1:02 pm
Just like government and the rest of the world,if we don’t sell out,they can’t do it their way,they’d have to keep it real. But…thanks to the greedy,self centered weekness of people who only care about getting what they want over having the balls to say I’m not going if you don’t make this right,that’s your awnser! I’d rather sell records out of the trunk of my car then let Nashville shove songs down my throat and tell me who I am,when I suffered my whole life to find myself, kiss it! I’m better than mist on the radio in talent and morals. More truth…it’s never going back to that cause dishonor is a generational curse. Oh and I have to be real,I’m jealous as he’ll and tempted but rather have my dignity than a record deal. R.I.P Merle,George,Hank,Whitley,Gosdin,Lefty…
January 20, 2018 @ 1:03 pm
I agree with Randy Rogers. If I want to listen to rap, I’ll listen to rap – by real rappers. Rap artists relay their life stories in their music the same way country artists used to. I don’t care to hear country artists attempt to rap, mainly because they can’t. Their attempts are laughable in my opinion. The chase for the almighty dollar is ruining country music, just the same as it is ruining every other aspect of our lives. Hats off to the country artists that stay true to what country music is!
January 20, 2018 @ 4:13 pm
Yeah, I have no more interest in hearing FGL rap than I do in hearing Chance try to sing.
January 20, 2018 @ 1:26 pm
I listen to a lot of rap, but don’t quite get the universal praise for Kendrick Lamar. Also, I agree the record Randy Rogers did with Wade Bowen was pretty damn good. Hopefully there is more of that on this new record.
January 21, 2018 @ 3:59 pm
The praise is because he’s the best right now
January 20, 2018 @ 1:28 pm
Rap is Not music and definitely does not belong in country music…..i turn the channel when I see Florida Georgia Line is going to be on. Can’t stand them!
January 20, 2018 @ 2:05 pm
Just because you don’t like it doesn’t mean it’s not music. I dislike the vast majority of pop-country, but it’s still music. Bad music, perhaps, but music nonetheless.
January 20, 2018 @ 2:09 pm
I agree Kay, and I’d add that it’s contributed to the dumbing down of society.
January 20, 2018 @ 5:30 pm
How about you grow a set, Honky, and just outright say you don’t like black people instead of wasting bandwidth posting the same thing ten times hoping someone else will say it first?
January 20, 2018 @ 6:38 pm
Because that would a horribly racist thing to say, not to mention, a lie.
January 20, 2018 @ 8:55 pm
Good to know.
Maybe I misunderstood and you meant FGL was part of dumbing down our culture and not rap, which is a style of music developed by black people that was eventually stolen and dumbed down by white people.
January 21, 2018 @ 5:33 am
No, Jon, I meant rap, all rap.
January 21, 2018 @ 7:47 pm
Good luck with that.
January 22, 2018 @ 10:47 am
Well I don’t like rap; I must be racist too.
“rap, which is a style of music developed by black people that was eventually stolen and dumbed down by white people.
Stolen is such a strong word. That’s like saying blacks stole white music because they use the guitar in blues which is an instrument developed by white people (Credit: Antonio Torres/Peter Carl Goldmark). Jimmy Savile (another white guy) is credited with being the first man to use turntables to keep the music in continuous play. So that’s another thing blacks stole. We could go back and fourth on who stole what forever. My main point is I wouldn’t be going around saying this race stole from this race. Different groups of people are influenced and adopt different things all the time. Ya feel me, dawg?
January 23, 2018 @ 10:37 am
Wait…is the idea here that “the blues” requires a guitar, haha?
The musical foundation of the blues existed for decades before black musicians started incorporating a guitar…they used one-stringed instruments and banjos, which originate from West Africa.
The “Country” genre came from a desire by music execs to differentiate the white people who had adopted the Blues style from black Blues musicians for marketing purposes.
It’s not an exaggeration or, frankly, debatable that the entire landscape of modern American popular music stems from the co-opting of various black musical styles.
January 23, 2018 @ 11:11 am
“The “Country” genre came from a desire by music execs to differentiate the white people who had adopted the Blues style from black Blues musicians for marketing purposes.”
That’s highly debatable. I know what you’re getting at. Yes, African Americans played a vital role in the formation of country. But let’s not take that to the extreme.
January 23, 2018 @ 2:11 pm
I’d argue Country is “The Blues” filtered through the lens of the white Appalachian experience (and, eventually, incorporating their instruments).
At the very least, country is far more indebted to The Blues than The Blues is to the 17th century Spaniard who created the modern guitar, haha.
January 24, 2018 @ 12:25 pm
“It’s not an exaggeration or, frankly, debatable that the entire landscape of modern American popular music stems from the co-opting of various black musical styles.”
No, I’m not doing that. I’m not turning this into a which race is better or more responsible for today’s music. The influences and contributions go both ways. Look at Jazz where the majority of the instruments used have their origins from Europe and the harmony/chords also originate from Europe through classical music. My main point like I’ve previously stated is that to say one group stole from another group in terms of music is pretty extreme or radical viewpoint. Isn’t one of the main ideas of music is sharing with others? Because we have white people that rap, it doesn’t mean that they “stole” rap. Or because we have a lot orientals involved in classical music doesn’t mean they stole classical music. To say that black people or people of East Asia that use instruments, devices, electronics or incorporate music theory that originate from Europeans/whites doesn’t mean they stole something.
January 24, 2018 @ 7:54 pm
Naw, hillbilly, I don’t “feel you.” I don’t care for much rap music either, but I don’t go around making ten different posts about it and complaining about how it contributes to the dumbing down of society. It’s just about like anything else – there’s good and there’s bad. The good can be as informative of certain aspects of the human condition as any other form of music, and the bad is as trash as any other bad music. Maybe worse if you don’t care for some of the subject matter being discussed or vulgarity that often goes with it.
It’s pretty clear that rap and hip-hop were developed by black people from other styles of a predominantly black origin. Now you got dipshit middle-aged white dudes in skinny $300 jeans trying to do it over a computerized drum beat about country roads. Stolen; dumbed down.
You can call it whatever you want, though. The rest of that paragraph about not keeping score is a bunch of irrelevant nonsense when addressing the topic of rap music in modern country music.
January 20, 2018 @ 5:46 pm
I think you’re giving far too much credit to a genre of music.
January 20, 2018 @ 3:02 pm
Totally agree. There is plenty of rap music I enjoy, but it doesn’t belong with country music. They shouldn’t even share the same neighborhood.
January 20, 2018 @ 3:08 pm
Country music as we know it had been around for less than a century. It has changed dramatically throughout the years because there is no right or wrong way to make country music. There is no right or wrong way to create art. Sometimes I like to eat strawberries. Sometimes I like to eat blueberries. And sometimes I like to make smoothies with the two. Just because there is rap, pop, or whatever else in country doesn’t make it bad or wrong. People should just make their own music and not be forced to be pressured to making “true” country.
January 20, 2018 @ 3:18 pm
Wrong. People releasing pop music and saying “I’m country because I’m from the south” are a cancer and should not be tolerated.
January 20, 2018 @ 9:43 pm
That’s not what I said. The juxtaposition of comparing pop music to country music is to illustrate the difference or lack of difference between the two. In a continuing changing market, genres most evolve to meet the needs of the people. Hard core traditional country is only a manifestation of a bygone era and has no future. Rap is an ever expanding sound that is widely counsumed from white people in the south. It makes sense to incorporate the two. People reward progressive sound not fixated sound elements that never change. The future of music depends on creative and economic institutions promoting the diverse growth of artistry not jaded individuals stopping the everlasting potential of genres to become a beautiful mixture of cultures. and instruments.
January 21, 2018 @ 8:42 pm
“Hard core traditional country is only a manifestation of a bygone era and has no future.”
You could not be more off base. Everything else you said made sense except for that one statement.
January 21, 2018 @ 7:55 pm
GrantH They are country because they are from the South. That makes them pop country and all Southern Pop Country Music should be supported. You’ll wish you tracked this phenomenon later. Set up a room in the museum now. They may be transitory, but I can’t imagine life without them. Pop Country Music from the Midland of America is the most awesome phenomenon the world has ever seen, and it deserves it’s own wing in the museum for making country music bearable. “Neo Traditional Non Mainstream Country” is depressing drunk driving tunnel vision alone on a nearly deserted highway genre.
January 21, 2018 @ 8:15 pm
Not even gonna address your bullshit assessment of “neo-traditional country”; but by your logic, are southern rappers such as Migos and Future “pop country” simply because they’re from the Atlanta, Georgia? Just because you sing with a “southern” accent over a pop instrumental does not make someone a country artist, and just because an artist is from a certain region in the United States does not automatically make them associated with a genre. There have been plenty of great non-Southern country artists. Buck Owens pioneered the “Bakersfield” sound that basically set the precedent for what country music would sound like for several decades all the way back in the 50’s and 60’s. He was from California. Chris LeDoux was from Wyoming and brought the cowboy mystique back into the genre when it had been gone for so long. “You’ll wish you tracked this phenomenon later”? Hell no I won’t. When I first heard “Cruise” by FGL over the radio back in 2013 I knew it was garbage, and in hindsight it’s still garbage. It is not “the most awesome phenomenon the world has ever seen.” Country music is now literally a parody of itself. It makes a mockery of southern culture and southern people by perpetuating its bullshit “redneck lifestyle” crap through every lame song that’s always about the same damn things: driving lifted trucks, fishing, date raping girls in the back of said trucks down by the river. Modern country music is by morons, for morons.
January 21, 2018 @ 8:19 pm
I think Leroy may have been being sarcastic. But not 100% sure on that myself either.
May 31, 2019 @ 6:24 pm
Very well put
January 20, 2018 @ 3:28 pm
I’ll listen to Buck Owens, Run The Jewels, whatever feels honest. I certainly want my country to be country but I’d be open to rap and country mixing if it was done well. “I’ve been everywhere”?!?
January 20, 2018 @ 3:50 pm
Rap is for those who find it too difficult to learn & play an instrument, or to develop a melody. Rhythm and rhyming and bragging does not equal music in my book.
January 20, 2018 @ 4:06 pm
That must be a pretty boring, narrow minded and ass backwards book you are following.
January 20, 2018 @ 4:15 pm
Singing is for those who can’t maintain a complex internal rhyme scheme at a rapid pace, while maintaining a beat.
(Am I doing this right?)
January 20, 2018 @ 4:23 pm
It appears I’ve struck a nerve. Maybe we should start including banjos, fiddle, and pedal steel in rap “music”? You fine with that?
January 20, 2018 @ 4:40 pm
Hm?
Neither of us want to listen to rap-country.
We’re just pointing out that anyone claiming that hip hop requires no musical or lyrical talent either has no idea what they’re talking about…or is a fucking moron who lacks the capacity to intelligently evaluate music, and tries to cover that fact up by parroting YouTube comments.
January 20, 2018 @ 6:02 pm
Hip hop is different from rap. I actually like a good number of hip hop songs. And a couple rap tunes, believe it not.
If not swearing or disrespecting women is boring, then I’m boring.
January 20, 2018 @ 6:14 pm
I’m not debating the talent level one way or the other. I’m just saying it really, really sucks, and is made by imbeciles, for imbeciles.
January 23, 2018 @ 10:40 am
A) All rap is hip hop.
B) A ton of rap music neither swears, nor disrespects women. Just like not all country music consists of “Fuck You Bitch.”
Suburban white boys just prefer the rap that does consist of swearing and disrespecting women, so that’s what gets played on the radio.
January 20, 2018 @ 5:44 pm
I’d certainly be open to hearing more banjo, fiddle, or steel guitar in hip-hop. Introducing rap elements into country rarely works, hip-hop/rap is a lot better at absorbing other musical influences.
January 23, 2018 @ 11:34 am
No doubt.
March 4, 2018 @ 6:17 pm
Run DMC agrees
January 20, 2018 @ 4:15 pm
Pop and rap wanted in on country music because it was more popular. George strait and alan jackson hit the nail on the head with their song “Murder on Music Row. Pop is pop,rap is rap and country is country. We should have kept it that way. I’ve not listened to country music since all this entwinement began. Ridiculous!
January 21, 2018 @ 1:10 am
Just a polite reminder that “Murder on Music Row” was written by Larry Cordle and Larry Shell, and recorded by Larry Cordle & Lonesome Standard Time.
January 20, 2018 @ 4:42 pm
Regardless as to if Country rap/Hick Hop should exist it’s getting bigger and bigger. There’s an article on here from 2014 I think questioning whether or not it was only a brief fad. now its 2018 and Artist like Upchurch, Demun Jones, Big Smo and many more are getting a alarmingly fast and large following.
January 20, 2018 @ 5:07 pm
combining country music and rap music is like mixing ammonia with bleach
January 20, 2018 @ 6:17 pm
I’m still waiting for a rapper to start yodeling!
January 21, 2018 @ 12:58 am
Maybe something like this:
“Yo yo yo, listen up my homie. Yo’ ol’ lady a hoe!”
January 20, 2018 @ 5:24 pm
What a bigoted butthead. Music needs to move forward, not nostalgically wallow in the past. No Randy Rogers for me.
January 20, 2018 @ 6:07 pm
Bigoted?
Citation, please.
January 20, 2018 @ 6:36 pm
Saying he listens to Kendrick Lamar and rap probably means that Randy Rogers has a pretty open mind when he comes to music and culture. He just doesn’t see the need to mix hip-hop with country because country music is about tradition. I’m not sure how that makes him a bigot. Also maybe he doesn’t want to participate in cultural appropriation, which in my opinion is a sign of disrespect to cultures other than your own.
January 20, 2018 @ 6:41 pm
Yup. That is exactly what I was thinking.
January 21, 2018 @ 7:20 am
I remember when metal and rap joined forces and folks said the same thing but it actually worked and still does to this day (depending on your opinion). I think if you’re creating art and are doing it in a respectful way, to each his own. Anthrax weren’t trying to culturally appropriate a culture. They were fans of Public Enemy and the respect went both ways. The Beastie Boys and others were hearing something cool and unique and wanted to participate.
Many of today’s artists grew up during a time when rap exploded. I think it’s normal for them to want to incorporate that music into country. Who knows, maybe it will work someday. I don’t think it’s cultural appropriation, just cultural appreciation.
January 21, 2018 @ 8:12 am
Doesn’t work in metal for me outside of Tom Morello’s riffs
January 22, 2018 @ 11:03 am
“maybe he doesn’t want to participate in cultural appropriation, which in my opinion is a sign of disrespect to cultures other than your own.”
So no hoop earrings for white girls?
January 22, 2018 @ 11:37 am
I didn’t say no hoop rings for white girls. Obviously there are distinctions. Speaking in clearly Eubonic tones and words while making hip-hop gesticulations when that is not how you speak or act otherwise is the modern-day equivalent to black face. Not sure any culture has a monopoly on the circle as a fashion accessory.
January 22, 2018 @ 12:38 pm
“Speaking in clearly Eubonic tones and words while making hip-hop gesticulations when that is not how you speak or act otherwise is the modern-day equivalent to black face.”
That’s pretty ridiculous. I mean sometimes I joke with people and say “that’s fucked up dawg” or “aww hell naaa” and I attribute that with just living in what should be a melting pot society. Never once have I had someone come up to me and call me out on cultural/racial disrespecting. I’m not sure any culture can have sole monopoly of certain phrases or gestures in American society.
Speaking of blackface, I don’t recall anyone batting an eye at Dave Chappelle’s white face skit.
So then is Darius Rucker an example of cultural appropriation? From a biography I read he grew up in what he describes as a typical African-American household.
Cultural appropriation really is just another term that was generated to reprimand whites. The criticism always goes in one direction.
January 22, 2018 @ 1:01 pm
Whiskey Pete,
Not going to get drawn into a race argument that is irrelevant here. No, hoop earrings are not the equivalent of exploiting someone else’s culture by selling millions of records by stealing their influences and cultural identifiers. Just because you say “dawg” to your buddies doesn’t mean anything. That’s slang. Not similar to selling millions of records either. Apples and bowling balls. Wasn’t even making some big point on cultural appropriation here, just adding it to the conversation.
January 22, 2018 @ 12:56 pm
And I say “chale wey” or “simón” (From Mexican-American culture) with friends in a joking manner. Again, this is a result in living in what should be a melting pot society.
I actually adopt a lot of lingo with from different cultures. It’s not a big deal.
January 20, 2018 @ 7:38 pm
Love the Randy Rogers Band.
January 20, 2018 @ 10:31 pm
Dumb comment of the day.
January 21, 2018 @ 2:38 am
Randy Rogers is crying.
January 20, 2018 @ 6:12 pm
“People can tell the difference between (B.S.) and not (B.S.).”
Many can’t.
January 20, 2018 @ 6:46 pm
” ‘People can tell the difference between (B.S.) and not (B.S.).”
”Many can’t.’
I agree that many people really can’t tell the difference between B.S and no B.S. .
BUT I also believe and have faith in the fact that given better options and more frequent exposure to those options , many can . I’ve witnessed it often….. with students , with ” non-musical” friends and /or family . They often don’t realize what options exist unless somehow who IS aware of them brings them to their attention .
January 20, 2018 @ 6:47 pm
” someone” who is aware ….( no spellcheck )
January 21, 2018 @ 2:02 am
Expose the options when they are young. My grandkids like grandpas music. Same as my kids did.
January 20, 2018 @ 6:26 pm
To put it simply, there’s good music, and bad music. Unfortunately for us, most of the music shoved down our throat by the corporate juggernauts is of the bad type across all platforms.
January 20, 2018 @ 6:40 pm
He is exactly right, of course. There are some genres of music that are so fundamentally different that they should not be melded, and country and rap are two of those.
Often newer “country” artists will say how they grew up listening to rap and country side by side, and that’s the reason their music includes both influences.
And they can say this, but in a lot of cases I will freely admit I find such rather dubious. For example, I really don’t believe that either Tyler Hubbard or Brian Kelley listened to country music to any great extent, no matter what they say. Their music is just so utterly devoid of any country sound. And to go back to the example that I cite so often, with the kind of music Jason Boland does, I never would have guess that he was a metalhead in his younger days, but he sure as shit was.
January 20, 2018 @ 7:58 pm
As was Aaron Lewis but ‘Sinner’ is a damn fine album.
January 20, 2018 @ 8:13 pm
So I have heard. I have not heard anything from it apart from “That Ain’t Country,” which I like a lot, but I did like what I heard from the album before it, and I am given to believe Sinner is more of the same.
I would take Aaron Lewis over FGL and Luke Bryan in a heartbeat — and actually enjoy listening to him.
January 20, 2018 @ 6:50 pm
To quote Ronnie Milsap. They finally learned to combine Country and rap. They call it crap
January 20, 2018 @ 7:37 pm
In all honesty, I cannot see how anyone can listen to rap music and say they truly enjoy it when there are so many better options.
January 20, 2018 @ 8:54 pm
Because many were born into households where that’s what was playing and so they identify with it. Because it speaks to their human experience, and the struggles they endure, or they joys they find. If you were born in Compton, California, why would you listen to Randy Travis sing about how his love is deeper than the holler? Sure, much of rap is pure shit. But so is country if you just judge it by what’s playing on the radio. I’m no rap fan, but identify that it is something that speaks to people, and don’t doubt there is some great stuff out there. I may not be able to identify with it personally, because it doesn’t always speak to my human experience. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t speak deeply to someone else’s. Just like country, rap can be used to talk down to people, subjugate them to materialism and bad habits and disrespect of others. Or it can lift them up, or help them commiserate with struggles.
January 20, 2018 @ 7:42 pm
Great band The Randy Rogers Band…I’ve always thought that they were more Wallflowers and Gin Blossoms than authentic Country music.
Texas or not.
The album that he made with Wade Bowen is literally the best thing he has ever done in his career.
Good Luck With That As A Matter Of Fact.
January 20, 2018 @ 9:00 pm
The Wallflowers are more authentic country than 80% of the shit pumped out by Nashville the past few years, so it’s all relative.
January 20, 2018 @ 7:45 pm
Well I could’ve told you that
January 20, 2018 @ 7:50 pm
“El Dorado”. 🙂 Me and my wife always sing along with the cattle calls when ever we place this.
January 20, 2018 @ 7:51 pm
… play this.
January 20, 2018 @ 8:16 pm
Once upon a time there was a painter. He had a bunch of different colored paints. Nice paints, nice colors. He made beautiful pictures with them. One day a younger painter, very famous, came from far away. He said to the old painter, your colors are prejudiced and bigoted, because you, being a traditional old fart and jackass, let them dictate how they should be combined! All the onlookers laughed. “What shall I do?” asked the old painter. He felt sad and embarrassed. “Mix them however you like” cried the young painter. “The more the merrier! And you’ll make more money!” The old painter tried this, and soon found that people wanted the new colors and soon forgot what the old colors looked like. So he blended more, and more, and more, until one day he had blended all his paints together. A triumph! He was hailed as the most progressive, modern, successful painter in the world, and all the world was filled with his pictures, which were all a sort of repulsive dark mauve. Everyone was happy except for the old painter, whose youngest daughter did not like dark mauve. She wanted bright colors. So the old painter went to the paint store. To his horror, he found that no one made “colors” anymore. There was no market for it, and only a few craftsmen were alive who even remembered how to use them. The youngest daughter became depressed, and her father died. The end.
January 20, 2018 @ 8:20 pm
I sense you just made that up.
January 20, 2018 @ 9:02 pm
Leave the fables to Aesop.
January 20, 2018 @ 9:18 pm
I kind of liked it, even if it was a bit winding. You do you Corncaster.
January 21, 2018 @ 5:55 am
hey, it was shorter than albert’s
January 23, 2018 @ 9:29 am
yeah …that albert dude is one long-winded self-righteous s.o.b. isn’t he ? wish he’d just go lay down .
January 23, 2018 @ 9:56 am
you do you, albert
: )
January 24, 2018 @ 9:14 pm
I seem to be in the minority here, and I dislike it slightly less upon second read anyway, so fable away, Corncaster. Fable away.
January 20, 2018 @ 9:57 pm
Is this about Bob Ross?
January 21, 2018 @ 1:47 am
I really enjoyed the surprise ending of the story.
January 21, 2018 @ 8:15 am
I think that’s an awesome, spot on analogy!
January 22, 2018 @ 3:41 pm
I’m pretty sure that story comes from the Bible. It explains the genesis of the monocolor movement in painting.
January 20, 2018 @ 9:19 pm
I love upchurch and denum jones but other than them I hat country with rap.
January 20, 2018 @ 9:27 pm
I don’t know. I’m inclined to think that many are hitching up to the rap bandwagon just because they think it’s the trendy thing to do. It’s kind of like 99% of today’s ‘protesters not having any knowledge of that which they are protesting. It’s just the thing to do. The image of those two college nitwits standing in the dairy aisle protesting the killing of cows for milk just speaks volumes.
January 20, 2018 @ 11:05 pm
Really annoying how every reply I leave for Honky doesn’t make it through the “filter”. I’m not even being vulgar. Just calling him out for being an 80 year old loser with an internet connection in his hospice room who wouldn’t know good music if it hit him.
January 20, 2018 @ 11:10 pm
Jtrpdx,
Trust me, I’ve been getting an earful from Honky publicly and privately for all the comments from him I’ve been deleting. I am fine if people disagree with each other and discuss matters at length if they want. But the incessant back and forths get very old, and discourage other people from wanting to come here and comment. It’s very high school, especially when it descends into personal attacks.
January 21, 2018 @ 12:33 am
Completely understand. This damn internet comment thing makes us all a little crazy! And honky is always at the extreme end of BS posts that make any sane person shake their head. The best approach is for us all to just ignore her.
January 21, 2018 @ 8:32 am
Trigger,
I’m a free speech absolutist, so please don’t delete Jtrpdx on my behalf. I have no intention of ever replying to him anyway, and I haven’t in months. There will be no back and forths with him where I’m involved. Let him post his attacks.
January 21, 2018 @ 9:40 am
This isn’t about you and your interests, Honky. That’s what you fail to understand when posting comments. The only reason this comments section works when many others fail is because there is a level of decorum and respect, and people understand they’re not just speaking for themselves, they’re speaking for the Saving Country Music community. You don’t seem to appreciate that, or understand you’re portraying us all as a bunch of closed-minded racists, fair or not, and not just because of what you say (or your idiotic handle), but how you seem to always look to stir conflict with your comments.
January 20, 2018 @ 11:16 pm
Looking forward to hearing this as I love Randy and Wade’s album they did together. As for his quote I agree 100%. I know some people like rap, and I respect that but I cannot say I have ever enjoyed any of it. Give me Waylon, Merle, and Charlie Daniels any day over any rap artists.
January 21, 2018 @ 1:16 am
A lot of rappers in the 90’s wouldn’t rap with the beat of the music. Some would rap in between the beats, thrown in some time changes and sample old funk and jazz songs. Most ‘rapping’ we hear in some off today’s country is pretty much basic, cookie cutter, 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 rhythmic spoken word disguised as rap. If any of today’s country ‘rappers’ tried to rap like Eminem, Nas, Jay Z, etc. they’d probably get laughed out of the studio. In my opinion, Rage Against The Machine were the first to take rap and successfully merge it with metal. They we’re considered ‘rap metal’ and/or alternative. Then other bands did it and were/are considered ‘nu metal’. Metal and rap, to a degree, shared a bit of the underground connection and a lot of these bands had something going that made it palatable, too – a groove. I’m all for a genre evolving to stay current with the times, but when it’s more of a mutation than a evolution, what’s gained???
January 21, 2018 @ 8:35 am
Jerry Reed’s Redneck In A Rock N Bar is the best song about not wanting country to mix with other genres
January 21, 2018 @ 9:05 am
“highly-anticipated Dave Cobb-produced record”
this is a required statement about every record released this year.
when does he sleep?
January 21, 2018 @ 4:40 pm
I just read an article about Philip Phillips new record. It said Cobb helped produce it.
If nothing else he does get around and is getting richer than 6 ft up a bulls ass doing it.
January 22, 2018 @ 4:47 am
I know Cobb is the flavor of the minute similar to how Rick Rubin dominated music for a period of time, but cmon, it’s like getting to be almost cliche.
Seriously, folks? Nobody else is capable of producing a record??!!
January 23, 2018 @ 9:33 am
i don’t know when he sleeps …but i find myself wishing he would
January 21, 2018 @ 9:50 am
I’d be interested in hearing a country-rap hybrid if it came from a genuine place and was respectful to both genres. I grew up listening to the Dixie Chicks and TLC, Trisha Yearwood and Missy Elliot, Brooks and Dunn and Outkast. The problem with every attempt at such a hybrid I’ve heard is that it does a major disservice to both genres. It’s like they take the worst of both instead of the best.
January 21, 2018 @ 11:08 am
I’m over 50 years old, so I have had plenty of time to listen. I remember riding in my parents’ car listening to Conway and Loretta, Charlie Pride and Charlie Rich. When I hit my teens, I wanted no part of that. Prince, Run DMC and Dep Leppard for my next 15 years, thanks. I got into mainstream country once I started having children. Garth Brooks, Clay Walker, and Brooks & Dunn were at the top for me. About a decade ago, a friend of mine who worked at RRB’s record label sent me a cd. THAT, I said, it the type of music I want to make my own for the rest of my life. While RRB may be a little “mainstream” compared to the country music most on here subscribe to, I will always consider RRB, Wade Bowen, Pat Green, Sunny Sweeney, JAB, and now Jon Wolfe and Jon Pardi as “country”. Yes, I know all of them at one point had a record deal out of Nashville. I know most would consider my list as too mainstream, but I love it. It’s the type of music that I define as country. Fiddles, steel, and not over produced. Word.
January 21, 2018 @ 6:12 pm
do you mean Josh Wolfe? I saw him at The Commodore, and he nailed it. my wife and daughter hung on his every word
January 21, 2018 @ 6:25 pm
I’m pretty sure he’s talking about Jon Wolfe out of Houston. Seen him live years ago, he was pretty dang good
January 22, 2018 @ 7:31 pm
I did mean Jon, I really like his latest cd. But I’ll check out Josh Wolfe as well. Thanks, guys.
January 21, 2018 @ 3:16 pm
Glad to see Randy Rogers calling out the BS on mainstream radio. Couldn’t agree more.
January 21, 2018 @ 9:12 pm
For the poster above that mentioned Buck Owens was from California, he was actually from Sherman, Texas and moved to Arizona at 10 years old. He moved to Bakersfield when he was around 20 years old. But I get what you were saying. Also, rap and country don’t belong together, I believe the powers to be are creating 1 big monogenre. The real question to ask is why?
Todd Villars
January 21, 2018 @ 10:48 pm
They can take their monogenre and shove it up their arrogant asses.
January 22, 2018 @ 6:38 am
One answer: to tap a global market. That’s where the big numbers would be. Ever listen to pop music from Europe? (pause for disgusted, vacant stare) “Commercial country” music is becoming more like that.
January 21, 2018 @ 10:47 pm
I do believe I agree with Randy on this one.
Now, if only more “important” folks thought that way, maybe radio wouldn’t suck something awful.
January 22, 2018 @ 5:30 am
Wait–I thought Randy Rogers was the red dirt equivalent of Blake Shelton?
January 22, 2018 @ 12:39 pm
He just took Donald Trumps 2020 Campaign Slogan
January 23, 2018 @ 2:06 pm
Let me give some folks a history lesson.
CW McCall did the first country rap song in 1975. It was epic. They made it into a bad movie.
Rap is music. To say otherwise is being glib at best and more likely something else.
January 23, 2018 @ 2:19 pm
Talking is not rapping. I agree rap is music, but I think there is a distinct difference between talking lyrics and rapping lyrics, and it can be disrespectful to both to say they’re one in the same.
January 23, 2018 @ 2:44 pm
I just like getting CW McCall worked into any and all discussions, I defy anyone reading this who knows the song to keep it out of their heads the rest of the day.
The word “rap” used to mean “talk” way back in the early 70s, but i get what you’re saying.
Rap – Verb – Slang. to talk or discuss, especially freely, openly, or volubly; chat.
There was always a youth outreach pastor back in the 70’s with an acoustic guitar who was always there if you needed to rap about something.
I’ve found some great here, thanks for the site, gonna’ go see if Convoy is on Netflix.
January 24, 2018 @ 4:43 pm
Here we go again, the RED NECK RAP HICK HOP issue.. Personally I think these gangster thugs should be drawn & quartered for victimizing traditional Country Music & destroying Americas youths and adults alike. RAP & HIP HOP is morally & socially destructive. Every time it comes in contact with any type of of music it is like an infectious plauge devastating everything in its path. Why should decent people be forced to have this filth shoved down our throats on a daily basis, in TV, radio, internet, and even on billboards for public viewing. And if you say anything against RAP, HIP HOP, and the degenerate scum that promote it,, then you are instantly labeled a RACIST!. The Traditional Country Music Foundation was shut down by these REDNECK RAP HICK HOP fanatics claiming they were RACIST for not allowing this filth to be played at there events. Whats wrong with this picture? Welcome to the new America, where decent morally conciance people are on the target list,,targeted for exstermenation.. After all the new America has to make more room for the GANGSTER RAP HICK HOP THUGS rite. Remember if you speak out against RAP & HICK HOP YOUR A RACIST.. Good lord,,,what has America come to,, and the Country Music world,,,IT’S GONE!!
P.S…Tell Toby I want my song back…THUG!
November 20, 2018 @ 3:20 pm
Randy Rogers shouldn’t be in Country music. What a waste of media space
December 27, 2018 @ 7:21 pm
i think someone is mad for no good reason, ryan upchurch makes all kinds of music(country,hick hop, rock, pop and who are you to say anything. Ryan always brings up past artist and how he looks up to them he has made covers from several older artist Elvis and alice n chains for starters. things have to change in order for them to stay around, look at cars for ex they were made outta wood back in the day then metal and so on. the only thing that has not change is schooling and it bs start a page about that something worth changing because with the fan base some of these “hick hop” artist have they are not going anywhere anytime soon its a growing genre. beside FGL they can go somewhere else haha but you cant knock on someone that makes a killer doing what he does starting from the complete bottom and ending up where his is now some artist earn there spots in this world while others get them handed to them… yall are stuck in the past and country music is about the words not the instruments used..ive never even seen randy rogers name anywhere. i see ryan upchurch everywhere. also no ryan isnt the only good artist in “hick hop” he is just the face of it in my opinion
January 2, 2022 @ 12:43 am
Both genres should die because they both suck. Mixing the two is like dropping a deuce on top of a turd. I literally like every other genre of music other than these two and reggae.
November 6, 2023 @ 10:01 am
After Hearing about a well known Country singer who respects & enjoys true Country music. I agree. Rap is NOT Country & should NOT be in Country music. Hip Hop is another Genre that needs to stay in it’s own lane. I have a feeling that is why Marin Morris is leaving Country.Music. It is upsetting to hear the calm, story telling base that is Country & fun Loving stories they tell. Rap is not music. Music is love filled stories, maybe sad stories, but nothing like the crap that is called music. Sex & profanity has no place in Music let alone Country music. A Sad shame…