I Hate Cowboy Troy...

but I completely respect what he's trying to do.

Let me explain...

As we all know black folk and country music aren't necessarily synonymous in the minds of everyday Americans. Truth be told, they have a much deeper connection than you think, but it's mostly a Southern black connection that doesn't reach this far north.

One would assume that just being black in country music would be automatic exposure, but the truth is, there is some stigma in that particular industry that has been in place for years. It's hard to get your foot in the door, and when you do it's even harder to keep it from getting stepped on.

In order to make a lasting impact you have to do something outrageous by country standards, and there is nothing more outrageous than the pairing of rap and country.

And that is how you get the mess that is Cowboy Troy.

I saw him while flipping through on Nashville Star and I stopped because I'd heard of him, but didn't really think much of it. Anyhow, it started off well enough, and then he started in with the rapping and I lost it.

I called all my friends to alert them to his wackness, and as I was telling a particular friend, she asked me, "suitcase's, why does he piss you off so badly?"

I had to think about that. I went first to the most obvious source of wackness, that of him being a black man in the country music industry, but I've encountered that before so I had to search deeper to see what the true reason was.

On the surface I actually admire Cowboy Troy mostly for what he's trying to do. I just hate the means he's using to do it, and I'm not too sure of the motives behind it.

Let's see if I can make sense of this.

Black people have had many contributions to the music world since the beginning of this nation. And their influence has spread across every genre. If there is to be a country/black hybrid, I think I would have liked to see it go more the soul root, or blues, or rock, but instead we get the most black, most subversive genre of "Hip Hop" to mesh.

In and of itself, that's not so bad, but why is it existent? Why was this the first try?

If Troy were a hip hop artist it would make more sense, but he's not. So therefore, hip hop to him is a gimmick. And that's what I hate. It's one thing to use your blackness to advance, but it's another to use black culture just for the sake of advancement.

If you are a soul food chef, and you start a soul food fusion restaurant, then that's cool, but if you are a French pastry chef, who's not getting hired, so you decide to open Aunt Jemimah's house of sticky buns, then that's wack. It's insulting and rude, and it's one thing to do this and be white, but to do it to your own people is beyond my realm of understanding.

And it sucks because he's getting play, and I respect that he's opening the door for more black country artists, but his "I'm trying to change the world" attitude just translates to "I'm trying to make some money, and what I was doing wasn't working" to me and that's pathetic.

There's more I want to say to make myself clearer, but I can't get my thoughts together just yet. Maybe later.