Country Rap
Also known as country hip-hop, hick-hop, country hick-hop, redneck rap
A loose but real crossover lane where country imagery, Southern drawl, and rap cadence meet. The label is fuzzy around the edges, but the trail runs through early 2000s hick-hop releases and into the mainstream surge around 'Old Town Road.'
Origins and context
A U.S. fusion scene rooted in country music, Southern hip-hop, and late-1990s/early-2000s crossover experimentation.
How to listen
Mood
- Rowdy
- Dusty
- Playful
- Genre-blurring
History
Country rap appears to have taken shape in the late 1990s and early 2000s, with roots in Southern hip-hop, country crossover experiments, and the broader push to fold rap into regional American styles. Documentation is a little uneven, and the label often travels alongside the more slangy term “hick-hop,” but artists such as Bubba Sparxxx and Cowboy Troy helped bring the sound into wider view. By the late 2010s, Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” pushed the blend into the mainstream and made the genre’s border-crossing feel suddenly unavoidable.
Notable artists
- BSBubba Sparxxx
- CTCowboy Troy
- LNLil Nas X
Essential listening
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
Explore connected genres
Sources and further reading
- Country rap
- Cowboy Troy biography
- Moonshine Bandits biography
- Apple Music
Apple Music lists Bubba Sparxxx's Deliverance as a 2003 release in Hip-Hop/Rap.
- Apple Music
Apple Music lists Cowboy Troy's 'I Play Chicken With the Train' single in 2005.
- Apple Music
Apple Music lists Lil Nas X's 'Old Town Road' song page and related remix release in 2018/2019.
- Old Town Road chart history
- Bubba Sparxxx biography