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Notes -
Jason Aldean’s Try That In a Small Town has gotten substantial media discussion and has been covered here as well, with one of the themes I see being country, conservative, and small-town defenders noting that the song isn’t actually particularly violent compared to rap. While I think this is obviously true, there’s been something about it that has rubbed me wrong, and I finally put my finger on it while I was running with some country music in my ear from Spotify recommendations. The song that got me thinking for the first verse in Bryan Martin’s Wolves Cry:
Much like the Aldean kerfuffle, one distinguishing feature from rap violence is that there is implied instigation on the part of whoever’s going to be left to lie, but the verse above leaves much less ambiguity about what happens if you cross Martin on his land. Martin’s music has a decent bit of this sort of edge, with Everyone’s an Outlaw clarifying that this isn’t exactly a Back The Blue situation:
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This clearly articulates honor culture values, that you’re morally obligated to do what’s right, including stepping up and killing someone if necessary. These themes aren’t at all uncommon in country music, although they’re usually not as aggressive in the most popular music.
Returning to my point, what I’ve realized bothered me about resorting to comparisons to rap is how whiny, pussified, and self-pitying it sounds to me. While some people did just just reply that honor culture is good, that men should be willing to commit violence against outsiders that wrong them, there was this appeal to how the black people can get away with being tough and cool and they’re way tougher and cooler than country white people, which played into the hands of people that write things like this Rolling Stone article:
For me, this is another example of the woke are more correct than the mainstream. Don’t whine about black music! Respond to this criticism by saying that it’s much easier to appeal to PMC fears of chud expression, that liberals said they favored free speech, and that this is a serious art form that deals with all aspects of human life, including the negatives. Have they ever listened closely to country singers and thought about what it might mean for an artist to give voice to the people that they grew up alongside in the trailer park? It’s doubtful.
I grew up in a rural, heavily white area, and the men I knew from that area really do represent the sort of rugged individualism and willingness to engage in violence embodied in some country music. Some of this spills over into behavior that I’m not personally a fan of, maybe even “toxic masculinity”, but I think it’s a culture that’s worth articulating and defending, not one that can only be defended by way of saying that black culture is worse. Jason Aldean is the light, poppy version of this, but country music really does have a fair bit of violence, and it’s good, actually.
It’s definitely worth noting that dislike of hip hop music might use violent themes as a fig leaf, but in reality mainstream rap music is just incompatible with transmitting cultural conservatism because it tends to push drug use, promiscuity, absentee fatherhood, etc., and that this is almost certainly the actual meat of the objection to hip hop from people like Matt Walsh.
Honestly, I think he probably just think it sucks and then tacks on the reasons afterwards. This might be an honest mental approach that isn't that thought out that much, registering the music as some trash that he doesn't like, and being aware that the memes in it aren't to his liking either. But when Cooper Alan sings:
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The main offense isn't going to be to the drinking, the tobacco, or the weed, it's going to be that Bud Light is still in there when it's supposed to be canceled. I'm not going to play stupid about it, rap is way darker in with regard to violence, way more heavy-handed with the drugs and bitches - there is a difference. I just don't really buy the affront being endogenous to the lyrics in rap.
...Why would the drinking, tobacco or weed in this example be considered offensive under any standard?
Lots of people just don’t like drugs, and most of them are core country-music audience. There’s also people who just hate tobacco, but few of them are listening to country.
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