The collab I don’t think I could’ve ever dreamt up.
It’s no secret that country music is the hot genre right now, and everyone wants in… even rappers like BigXthaPlug, who is dropping a country-inspired rap album tomorrow called I Hope You’re Happy, and it features one of country’s most popular artists in Luke Combs.
BigX has already released songs with Ella Langley and Shaboozey, and he also had a huge radio hit with Bailey Zimmerman on “All The Way,” which topped the country airplay charts, and cracked the Top 5 on the Billboard Hot 100, making it a crossover hit there.
It’s something that’s been in the works for a while, and obviously we knew it would feature several country artists due to the pre-released songs, but I honestly didn’t expect Combs’ name to be on the tracklist, so I’m extremely intrigued to hear whatever this is:
“‘Pray Hard’ with my guy BigXThaPlug out tonight at midnight.”
It’s unclear if Combs had a hand in writing “Pray Hard,” but if I had to guess, I would think he probably did lend his writing talents in addition to his pure country vocals:
BigXthaPlug is a Dallas native and grew up hearing country music being in Texas, and it was actually being imprisoned in solitary confinement during a jail stint that led him to becoming a rapper. He had violated a probation, and at 20-years-old, was in jail on his son’s 1st birthday. He said in an interview with Billboard that took a toll on him, obviously, and he used writing and poetry at first to help him cope.
Eventually, that turned into a music career:
“It took a toll on me, and made me very emotional. So they [jail officials] had to confine me by myself. And in that confinement, I felt like I was losing myself mentally.”
In terms of his motivations for doing an entire country-inspired album with so many country artists involved, BigX previously explained that he believes that a true “artist” doesn’t want to be boxed into one genre… adding that “they can’t hate it if it sounds good.”
I mean, fair enough… at it’s core, it’s still a rap album, it just features guest vocals from country singers. Much like EMD producers have done int he past. And surprisingly, the fan reaction to the hip-hop-meets country style he’s created has been pretty well-received:
“I mean, it’s the difference between somebody that doesn’t like… hip-hop, a rapper and an artist. So I’m saying, people like Beyoncé, me and a bunch of people that have been able to do it are artists. You can’t just hold them in one lane. It’s like telling a painter you can only paint red apples. No, he’s an artist, he’s gonna play a lot of different things.
So I feel like you can’t really, I mean of course there’s gonna be some hate about it, but they can’t hate it if it sounds good.”
The album consists of 11-tracks in total, and other features from Jelly Roll, a former rapper, as well as the aforementioned artists.
I actually think Luke’s feature is the most surprising one of everyone on the list, and I really can’t wait to hear what “Pray Hard” sounds like, because I can’t imagine it’s anything like what we’ve heard Combs do before.
“Hell at Night”
“All The Way”
