“Rap is like country music,” said the always visionary Ice-T way back in 1993. “They both sing to their own neighborhood, they wear jeans and hats to the Grammys, they sing in their own language, to their own people, and they sell millions of records and everybody wonders who bought ’em.”
More than three decades later, Ice’s words ring out louder than ever, with one big difference. The outsiders are now insiders; once considered fringe subcultures, these working-class, story-driven genres now run the show. Just look at this week’s Billboard charts, where even during peak Brat Summer, seven of the top 20 songs feature country singers, three are hip-hop tracks, and Shaboozey—with roots in both—sits in the number-one slot.
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