Hick Hop
August 25, 2015 10:33 AM Subscribe
Kenny Rogers is rumored to have said that, "Country music is whatever country people listen to." Eventually, it seems, all musical styles are absorbed into country music. Jazz, folk, pop, and Nickelback have all made their way into country music, sooner or later. Hip-hop has made an unfortunately appearance or two, but in tentative crossover format. Big Smo is here to change that; he is, he says with hip-hop swagger, Boss of the Stix. He likes mud.
You could have linked to the Nelly remix of "Cruise" for hip-hop and then you'd have gotten to link to "Cruise" twice in a row! What a potential way to get banned for being terrible.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 10:40 AM on August 25, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 10:40 AM on August 25, 2015 [4 favorites]
"Country music is whatever country people listen to."Lately, I've been listening to a lot of old Mandopop.
posted by octobersurprise at 10:41 AM on August 25, 2015 [3 favorites]
Wasn't Bubba Sparx a country/hip hop crossover? Also there was that willie Nelson snoop dogg collar a few years back that was way catchier than it had any right to be
posted by Hoopo at 10:42 AM on August 25, 2015 [8 favorites]
posted by Hoopo at 10:42 AM on August 25, 2015 [8 favorites]
Vance Gilbert did Country Western Rap as far back as the 1990s but I cannot for the life of me (admittedly with minimal effort) find a recording of it I can link to, which I guess means it's more obscure than I first though.
As far as I know he stopped performing it as he said it had become his Stairway to Heaven in that it was the only song anyone ever wanted to hear.
posted by bondcliff at 10:44 AM on August 25, 2015
As far as I know he stopped performing it as he said it had become his Stairway to Heaven in that it was the only song anyone ever wanted to hear.
posted by bondcliff at 10:44 AM on August 25, 2015
How can you discuss hick-hop without mentioning Cowboy Troy?
posted by Faint of Butt at 10:45 AM on August 25, 2015 [7 favorites]
posted by Faint of Butt at 10:45 AM on August 25, 2015 [7 favorites]
Oh great thanks to this thread I remembered that "Help, I'm White and I Can't Get Down" existed.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 10:49 AM on August 25, 2015 [11 favorites]
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 10:49 AM on August 25, 2015 [11 favorites]
Nothing says king of the country like a walk-behind rototiller. 6HP!
posted by ssg at 10:53 AM on August 25, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by ssg at 10:53 AM on August 25, 2015 [2 favorites]
Kid Rock?
posted by Steely-eyed Missile Man at 10:59 AM on August 25, 2015
posted by Steely-eyed Missile Man at 10:59 AM on August 25, 2015
Kid Rock?
Of whom the less said, the better.
posted by Faint of Butt at 11:03 AM on August 25, 2015 [5 favorites]
Of whom the less said, the better.
posted by Faint of Butt at 11:03 AM on August 25, 2015 [5 favorites]
I'm a big country music fan, both current stuff and old. I also like older-school hip-hop/rap stuff. And a bunch of other genres. Big Smo is one of the few artists that make me flip the channel immediately...
posted by primethyme at 11:05 AM on August 25, 2015
posted by primethyme at 11:05 AM on August 25, 2015
Anyone else watch Justified and after a while (actually no time at all) that theme song. Arrrrgh. They never changed it!?
posted by zbsachs at 11:06 AM on August 25, 2015
posted by zbsachs at 11:06 AM on August 25, 2015
all musical styles ... Nickelback
someone needs some re-education on the definition of 'music'
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 11:08 AM on August 25, 2015
someone needs some re-education on the definition of 'music'
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 11:08 AM on August 25, 2015
snoop dogg collar
Ugh. That was supposed to be "collab", but I'll award the points to autocorrect for actually sorta making sense this time.
posted by Hoopo at 11:12 AM on August 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
Ugh. That was supposed to be "collab", but I'll award the points to autocorrect for actually sorta making sense this time.
posted by Hoopo at 11:12 AM on August 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
Brad Paisley and LL Cool J pretty much perfected the hip-hop/country genre already.
posted by Cookiebastard at 11:12 AM on August 25, 2015
posted by Cookiebastard at 11:12 AM on August 25, 2015
Also worth pointing out that Malcolm McLaren's 1982 "Buffalo Gals" uses square dancing calls. That's going pretty far back in the history of hip hop, too.
posted by Hoopo at 11:14 AM on August 25, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by Hoopo at 11:14 AM on August 25, 2015 [2 favorites]
Paisley and LL Cool J are in the OP. There's no way I could've left them out.
posted by clawsoon at 11:16 AM on August 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by clawsoon at 11:16 AM on August 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
Farm Fresh the latest (1993 or so) craze from Brandon Manitoba.
posted by Poldo at 11:16 AM on August 25, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by Poldo at 11:16 AM on August 25, 2015 [2 favorites]
Still waiting for Country/{K/J/Canto/Mando}-Pop
It'll be Kanto-pop if Big Smo has anything to do with it, because apparently he ain't never knowed a "C."
posted by octobersurprise at 11:20 AM on August 25, 2015
It'll be Kanto-pop if Big Smo has anything to do with it, because apparently he ain't never knowed a "C."
posted by octobersurprise at 11:20 AM on August 25, 2015
Lately, I've been listening to a lot of old Mandopop.
I guess all this talk about country crossover stuff had me primed to be thinking about bluegrass, because I was all excited for a minute about the existence of a genre called Mando[lin]-Pop. Oh well.
posted by nebulawindphone at 11:21 AM on August 25, 2015 [3 favorites]
I guess all this talk about country crossover stuff had me primed to be thinking about bluegrass, because I was all excited for a minute about the existence of a genre called Mando[lin]-Pop. Oh well.
posted by nebulawindphone at 11:21 AM on August 25, 2015 [3 favorites]
I wish this Big Smo all the success in the world, that he might earworm his way into the brains of every delightful person who professes to love all genres of music "except rap and country."
posted by prize bull octorok at 11:31 AM on August 25, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by prize bull octorok at 11:31 AM on August 25, 2015 [4 favorites]
I never was a country fan and still am not but I saw Reba McEntire at a county fair once and was totally unfamiliar with her until that moment. I found her to be a twangy-voiced Motown act complete with horn section so yeah. I figure you can sing anything with that country twang thing and call yourself a country act.
I enjoyed the show.
posted by lordrunningclam at 11:32 AM on August 25, 2015 [3 favorites]
I enjoyed the show.
posted by lordrunningclam at 11:32 AM on August 25, 2015 [3 favorites]
This is...not for me.
posted by The Card Cheat at 11:33 AM on August 25, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by The Card Cheat at 11:33 AM on August 25, 2015 [2 favorites]
Anyone else watch Justified and after a while (actually no time at all) that theme song. Arrrrgh. They never changed it!?
*thump*
*thump*
*thump*
*jangly guitar riff*
I hated it at first, but over time it's really grown on me (though after five seasons-and-counting, you'd think the lyrics would have stopped being almost 100% indecipherable to me).
posted by Atom Eyes at 11:39 AM on August 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
*thump*
*thump*
*thump*
*jangly guitar riff*
I hated it at first, but over time it's really grown on me (though after five seasons-and-counting, you'd think the lyrics would have stopped being almost 100% indecipherable to me).
posted by Atom Eyes at 11:39 AM on August 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
Oh man is this the guy that does the song about how proud he is to work himself to death for his capitalist betters? Ah, yes, it is. Workin'! Way to fight the power, Big Smo!
posted by BitterOldPunk at 11:40 AM on August 25, 2015 [7 favorites]
posted by BitterOldPunk at 11:40 AM on August 25, 2015 [7 favorites]
> What, no Rednex?
I've never seen a dancefloor cleared the way it was at a friend's wedding when the DJ - possibly in an attempt to get fired - played "Cotton Eye Joe." I wish I'd had a tumbleweed I could have thrown out there.
posted by The Card Cheat at 11:41 AM on August 25, 2015 [7 favorites]
I've never seen a dancefloor cleared the way it was at a friend's wedding when the DJ - possibly in an attempt to get fired - played "Cotton Eye Joe." I wish I'd had a tumbleweed I could have thrown out there.
posted by The Card Cheat at 11:41 AM on August 25, 2015 [7 favorites]
I was literally coming to metafilter to distract myself from looking up hip hop's diffusion into other cultures for a lesson next week. Thanks for ruining my procrastination (and the perfect example).
That said, this looks one step removed from parody. Its basically a forgettable SNL sketch.
posted by lownote at 11:45 AM on August 25, 2015 [2 favorites]
That said, this looks one step removed from parody. Its basically a forgettable SNL sketch.
posted by lownote at 11:45 AM on August 25, 2015 [2 favorites]
> Oh man is this the guy that does the song about how proud he is to work himself to death for his capitalist betters? Ah, yes, it is.
Holy shit. Those lyrics sound like something Roger on American Dad would have come up with.
posted by The Card Cheat at 11:46 AM on August 25, 2015
Holy shit. Those lyrics sound like something Roger on American Dad would have come up with.
posted by The Card Cheat at 11:46 AM on August 25, 2015
I shit you not. Big Smo performed with Stryper (et al.) at the BamaJam in 2012. Given that the BamaJam also featured RVing, ATVing, a nine-hole golf course, and a water park, I blanch at the thought of opportunities missed.
posted by octobersurprise at 11:50 AM on August 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by octobersurprise at 11:50 AM on August 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
One last thing
You mentioned Kenny Rogers -- Kenny Rogers actually has some good drum breaks on some of his old records and I have sampled him. Tulsa Turnaround off "Kenny" had a really good one.
posted by Hoopo at 11:55 AM on August 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
You mentioned Kenny Rogers -- Kenny Rogers actually has some good drum breaks on some of his old records and I have sampled him. Tulsa Turnaround off "Kenny" had a really good one.
posted by Hoopo at 11:55 AM on August 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
He's straight outta Ruskin. "There is rough work to be done, and rough men must do it..."
posted by clawsoon at 11:57 AM on August 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by clawsoon at 11:57 AM on August 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
Back in 1984. (warning: worst thing ever)
posted by Bookhouse at 12:06 PM on August 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Bookhouse at 12:06 PM on August 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
It's a relevant new take on an old classic:
Take yer complaints about this job and shove 'em
Or you ain't workin' here no more
posted by Atom Eyes at 12:06 PM on August 25, 2015 [2 favorites]
Take yer complaints about this job and shove 'em
Or you ain't workin' here no more
posted by Atom Eyes at 12:06 PM on August 25, 2015 [2 favorites]
Square Dance Rap, 1988.
posted by a box and a stick and a string and a bear at 12:07 PM on August 25, 2015
posted by a box and a stick and a string and a bear at 12:07 PM on August 25, 2015
Wammo's Hick Hop, my personal fav.
posted by jeffamaphone at 12:10 PM on August 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by jeffamaphone at 12:10 PM on August 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
BamaJam also featured RVing, ATVing, a nine-hole golf course, and a water park
Sounds like fun, except for the music part.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 12:16 PM on August 25, 2015
Sounds like fun, except for the music part.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 12:16 PM on August 25, 2015
I see them long hard times to come.
posted by echocollate at 12:17 PM on August 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by echocollate at 12:17 PM on August 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
I'm disappointed that no-one has commented on the folk link yet, since it may be the best part.
posted by clawsoon at 12:18 PM on August 25, 2015
posted by clawsoon at 12:18 PM on August 25, 2015
I'm disappointed that no-one has commented on the folk link yet, since it may be the best part.
You're right. Nothing beats Glen Campbell smoking at the podium while a drunken Charlie Rich, dressed as Colonel Sanders, plays with fire.
posted by octobersurprise at 12:26 PM on August 25, 2015 [2 favorites]
You're right. Nothing beats Glen Campbell smoking at the podium while a drunken Charlie Rich, dressed as Colonel Sanders, plays with fire.
posted by octobersurprise at 12:26 PM on August 25, 2015 [2 favorites]
Wow, that's execrable. A lot of modern country pop is pop-rock with laid-back rap on top anyhow: Sam Hunt's House Party is #1 and is a crazy amalgam of country, rock, pop, and lily-white hip-hop; Luke Bryan's Kick the Dust Up is a little further down the chart, and is a worse rendition of the same.
posted by uncleozzy at 12:28 PM on August 25, 2015
posted by uncleozzy at 12:28 PM on August 25, 2015
Back in 1984 yt . (warning: worst thing ever)
no, no, no, that's a great novelty record - (and i have the 12 inch)
posted by pyramid termite at 12:29 PM on August 25, 2015
no, no, no, that's a great novelty record - (and i have the 12 inch)
posted by pyramid termite at 12:29 PM on August 25, 2015
The only correct answer to this is Nappy Roots.
posted by naju at 12:29 PM on August 25, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by naju at 12:29 PM on August 25, 2015 [2 favorites]
so, big smo, where's the story? a lot of hip-hop, there's a story - even more country, there's a story, in fact some people would say it's mandatory
screw all this frontin', WHERE'S THE STORY?
posted by pyramid termite at 12:31 PM on August 25, 2015
screw all this frontin', WHERE'S THE STORY?
posted by pyramid termite at 12:31 PM on August 25, 2015
Mando-Grass? Sino-Country?
Bluegrass + Chinese folk song, by Abigail Washburn and Bela Fleck
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NlZXWa5r6M
Much better than mr. Smo, imo.
posted by DGStieber at 1:09 PM on August 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
Bluegrass + Chinese folk song, by Abigail Washburn and Bela Fleck
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NlZXWa5r6M
Much better than mr. Smo, imo.
posted by DGStieber at 1:09 PM on August 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
Yeah, the nu-country I hear on the radio is very rap-influenced. Would that its existence caused the chuckleheads from my high-school to explode on contact.
posted by rhizome at 1:12 PM on August 25, 2015
posted by rhizome at 1:12 PM on August 25, 2015
Really, nu-country is the platonic ideal of music for chuckleheads.
posted by entropicamericana at 1:24 PM on August 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by entropicamericana at 1:24 PM on August 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
But never mind Big Smo, I'm all about Big Shmoo.
posted by octobersurprise at 1:38 PM on August 25, 2015
posted by octobersurprise at 1:38 PM on August 25, 2015
Corb Lund is my current country favourite, with Hard on Equipment at the top of the list.
He's Canadian, though, so...
posted by clawsoon at 1:44 PM on August 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
He's Canadian, though, so...
posted by clawsoon at 1:44 PM on August 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
When it comes to... Mando-Grass/Sino-Country... It's gotta be the Streak o'Lean Streak o'Fat video. Also by Abigail Washburn from her days with Uncle Earl.
posted by imbri at 1:49 PM on August 25, 2015
posted by imbri at 1:49 PM on August 25, 2015
straight outta montréal!
Bran Van 3000 - Supermodel
(bv3 also mixes up disco-metal-rap old school ;)
posted by kliuless at 1:49 PM on August 25, 2015
Bran Van 3000 - Supermodel
(bv3 also mixes up disco-metal-rap old school ;)
posted by kliuless at 1:49 PM on August 25, 2015
I've never seen a dancefloor cleared the way it was at a friend's wedding when the DJ - possibly in an attempt to get fired - played "Cotton Eye Joe." I wish I'd had a tumbleweed I could have thrown out there.
Ha! I was out dancing last weekend when the DJ slipped Cotton-Eye Joe into his mix, at first total clearing of floor, by the end dancefloor full to capacity everyone yelling the words and laughing... THAT is a DJ who knows the room (or got reeeeaaallly lucky)
posted by Cosine at 1:49 PM on August 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
Ha! I was out dancing last weekend when the DJ slipped Cotton-Eye Joe into his mix, at first total clearing of floor, by the end dancefloor full to capacity everyone yelling the words and laughing... THAT is a DJ who knows the room (or got reeeeaaallly lucky)
posted by Cosine at 1:49 PM on August 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
Seems to me that Big Smo's sound owes quite a bit to the ICP and juggalos more generally.
I don't say that with any affection.
posted by belarius at 1:58 PM on August 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
I don't say that with any affection.
posted by belarius at 1:58 PM on August 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
"Country Rap" by the Bellamy Brothers reached No. 31 on Billboard’s Country Singles chart in 1987.
It wasn't good then. It's not good now.
posted by MrJM at 2:01 PM on August 25, 2015
It wasn't good then. It's not good now.
posted by MrJM at 2:01 PM on August 25, 2015
That may have been rap, but it has nothing to do with hip-hop.
Rap always has to do with hip-hop. I would caution against minimizing the influence of hip-hop, a music the aforementioned chuckleheads derided as "not music," not too long ago.
posted by rhizome at 2:10 PM on August 25, 2015
Rap always has to do with hip-hop. I would caution against minimizing the influence of hip-hop, a music the aforementioned chuckleheads derided as "not music," not too long ago.
posted by rhizome at 2:10 PM on August 25, 2015
He's Canadian, though, so...
Now I'm wondering if Buck 65 hasn't done a few crossovers that would fit with this theme
posted by Hoopo at 2:25 PM on August 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
Now I'm wondering if Buck 65 hasn't done a few crossovers that would fit with this theme
posted by Hoopo at 2:25 PM on August 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
My favorite country/hiphop song is "Suicidewinder" by Ridley Bent. Another Canadian.
posted by HighLife at 2:31 PM on August 25, 2015
posted by HighLife at 2:31 PM on August 25, 2015
If we're competing for earliest example of the country-rap genre, I nominate Big Bad John.
posted by clawsoon at 2:41 PM on August 25, 2015
posted by clawsoon at 2:41 PM on August 25, 2015
Still waiting for hte industrial/IDM/Krautrock country cross-over (Some of the Eno/Lanois stuff on Apollo - Silver Morning - maybe inches slightly in that direction, but not really)
And, really, I'm happy to wait.
posted by Devonian at 3:01 PM on August 25, 2015
And, really, I'm happy to wait.
posted by Devonian at 3:01 PM on August 25, 2015
I've heard some....halfway decent?....country-rap acts, but whoa, Big Smo is supposed to be the one who breaks through to the mainstream? I guess, given the current mainstream of pop country, I shouldn't be that surprised, but he really sounds like a pale imitation of a Juggalo group. The rapping is just...terrible.
Should note just for history that I first heard about Big Smo in a Bar Rescue episode, where he was featured in the rescue of some bar in Tennessee that was run by people he was friends with.
Can't we just listen to Kacey Musgraves and cheer on that innovation in country?
posted by General Malaise at 3:47 PM on August 25, 2015 [2 favorites]
Should note just for history that I first heard about Big Smo in a Bar Rescue episode, where he was featured in the rescue of some bar in Tennessee that was run by people he was friends with.
Can't we just listen to Kacey Musgraves and cheer on that innovation in country?
posted by General Malaise at 3:47 PM on August 25, 2015 [2 favorites]
That may have been rap, but it has nothing to do with hip-hop.
Rap always has to do with hip-hop.
Rap is something you do. Hip-hop is something you live.
posted by Faint of Butt at 3:49 PM on August 25, 2015
Rap always has to do with hip-hop.
Rap is something you do. Hip-hop is something you live.
posted by Faint of Butt at 3:49 PM on August 25, 2015
Gourds' bluegrass version of Gin and Juice
posted by emjaybee at 4:20 PM on August 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by emjaybee at 4:20 PM on August 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
Gourds' bluegrass version of Gin and Juice
darkraiders_CD_rip01_funnyPHISH_hiphopcover.mp3
posted by sourwookie at 4:57 PM on August 25, 2015 [5 favorites]
darkraiders_CD_rip01_funnyPHISH_hiphopcover.mp3
posted by sourwookie at 4:57 PM on August 25, 2015 [5 favorites]
Just this morning I had to move a coworker's truck. He had the radio turned to a mainstream country station, and it was playing a surprisingly rap-inflected song. It was, of course, about a truck, allowing me the meta-pleasure of hearing a song about a truck in a truck.
It was also both terrible, and about a million times better than the Big Smo songs linked above. I don't listen to a lot of mainstream country, but I hear more and more rap influences all the time, particularly in the bro-songs about trucks.
posted by Dip Flash at 7:56 PM on August 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
It was also both terrible, and about a million times better than the Big Smo songs linked above. I don't listen to a lot of mainstream country, but I hear more and more rap influences all the time, particularly in the bro-songs about trucks.
posted by Dip Flash at 7:56 PM on August 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
This is ordinary, homegrown, neighborhood-style, indie rap. So it's a big guy who is not apparently black and who has a mush-mouth style. Reminds me of King George. If he's making money, more power to him. It's the standard. If that works for you, then it's good enough.
posted by Mike Mongo at 9:29 PM on August 25, 2015
posted by Mike Mongo at 9:29 PM on August 25, 2015
I shit you not. Big Smo performed with Stryper (et al.) at the BamaJam in 2012.
I misread that as (Jeff) Stryker at first and thought "Hey, Bamajam mudt be pretty open minded."
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 11:28 PM on August 25, 2015
I misread that as (Jeff) Stryker at first and thought "Hey, Bamajam mudt be pretty open minded."
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 11:28 PM on August 25, 2015
Now I'm wondering if Buck 65 hasn't done a few crossovers that would fit with this theme
I would say so.
I mean a shout out to Johnny Cash and the Bible; what's more country to than that? (although -5 country points for mentioning practicing his french, but in Canada that's an acknowledgement that your french is pretty awful).
posted by el io at 9:55 AM on August 26, 2015
I would say so.
I mean a shout out to Johnny Cash and the Bible; what's more country to than that? (although -5 country points for mentioning practicing his french, but in Canada that's an acknowledgement that your french is pretty awful).
posted by el io at 9:55 AM on August 26, 2015
Still waiting for hte industrial/IDM/Krautrock country cross-over
World Standard is a fine place to start.
posted by rhizome at 2:50 PM on August 26, 2015
World Standard is a fine place to start.
posted by rhizome at 2:50 PM on August 26, 2015
Heh. "Chunky dunkin'." Oh my.
posted by halfbuckaroo at 6:03 PM on August 26, 2015
posted by halfbuckaroo at 6:03 PM on August 26, 2015
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posted by kewb at 10:38 AM on August 25, 2015 [4 favorites]