It’s what makes country music so special.
Rapper BigXthaPlug released his country-inspired album I Hope You’re Happy in 2025, which included features from country stars like Jelly Roll, Ella Langley, Luke Combs and Thomas Rhett. It was basically a rap album that featured a number of country artists singing the choruses, but it had quite a bit of crossover appeal in both genres.
The Dallas, Texas native, whose real name is Xavier Landum, has spoken highly of the country genre since getting to know many of the artists, and he still keeps tabs on the country music world, and is great friends with Shaboozey.
And during an appearance on The Breakfast Club radio show on Monday, BigX talked about how special country music is in that you’ve “genuinely be going through something” to write a great country song, whether it’s happy or sad, because you have to be able to tap into your authentic emotions.
BigX has since returned to hip-hop with his album Better Over Time, though when he was asked if he thought country music ever truly welcomed him, he explained that everyone in country welcomed him with “open arms,” and even though he had never done anything in the country world, he says he was welcomed with “open arms” and he appreciated how welcoming everyone was:
“Oh, listen the country world is a whole different world. They are so open arms with everything. Like, they knew I had never did a lick of country music, but they was willing to.. from producers to engineers to artists.”
From artists like Post Malone (who went on a similar journey going from hip-hop to full blown country), Jelly Roll, Luke Combs, BigX says they were all great to work with, saying he didn’t pay to have any of them feature (which I don’t believe is the norm in country anyways, though it sounds like you might have to pay in other genres), and overall, he says he had a really great experience with the whole process:
“I didn’t pay for none of them features. And some of them… Post Malone, Jelly Roll, Luke Combs, them big names. Them was just people that wanted to genuinely, they seen that I was trying to do something that hadn’t been done and they was willing to help. And we did, we made history.”
He did concede that he wasn’t trying to “take over” anything, and having features helped, but acknowledged that when you come in from a place of reverence for the people and the history of the genre, they’re incredible welcoming.
In fact, he remains friends with some of them, saying that Shaboozey and Bailey Zimmerman still check in on him, saying he’ll get a text from them on a random Tuesday
“Them the only people that will randomly on a Tuesday, ‘Hey, what’s up, bro? You good?’ Nobody else do that.”
It’s really interesting to hear someone from a completely different world talk about what it’s like to actually make country, in terms of the songwriting process and how authentic it really has to be to work.
During another recent interview with Complex, BigX doubled down on the importance of emotion and storytelling in country music, saying it has to be “one hell of a story” if you’re going to invest the time into writing, recording and cutting a song:
“With country music, that story got to be one hell of a story. You could just make it sound good and it can go.”
And his endeavor to make a country-inspired album was quite successful, as I Hope You’re Happy debuted at #7 on the Billboard 200 all-genre albums chart, and reached #2 on the country albums chart, and BigX and Luke Combs even performed “Pray Hard” together at the 2025 CMA Awards.
There’s no doubt that country is a very special genre, and it’s cool to see that artists like BigX, who comes from an entirely different world and style of music, can see and appreciate that.
“Hell At Night feat. Ella Langley”
“Pray Hard feat. Luke Combs”
The full interview is
