Bubba Sparxxx, who recently released “Right,” a collaborative selection with Rodney Atkins, spoke with Billboard about the song and his excitement regarding this fusion.
“I am super stoked about it,” Bubba says. “I had met Rodney back about 2007. We met at the Southern Sports Awards show near Charlotte, NC. We were both performing there, and we kind of hit it off from the introduction. We had always talked about doing something together. When I started working on this album with Noah Gordon, we heard this song, and I thought it would be perfect for me and Rodney. We got it to him, he got on it, and I couldn’t be anymore excited. I think it’s going to do some big things for both of us…
“We’re both so excited about this record,” he adds. “It’s been recorded for a year and a half. Every month, he hits me up wanting to know when we’re going to do something with it. I’m excited about it, but I think Rodney is about as excited.”
The collaboration between Country and Hip Hop is one that Bubba says makes sense for him.
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“Nowadays, if you’re under 50 years old, you grew up in the Hip Hop generation,” he says. “It’s been around since the late ’70s, and I would say since the early ’90s, it’s been even bigger. So, these guys in their 20s and 30s who are Country music stars, they grew up listening to a little bit of Rap. It’s influenced certain aspects of them, and it’s an exciting time for me. The lines are getting more blurry, and I think it’s exciting. I grew up in a rural area hunting and fishing, but I just happened to fall in love with hip hop music when I heard it. My music has always been influenced by country and southern rock. It’s always been present in everything I’ve done. For me, it’s a continuation of what I’ve been doing.”
In October 2013, Bubba spoke with HipHopDX about Country Hip Hop.
“I think I represent Country Hip Hop and Southern Hip Hop,” he said at the time. “That’s what I’m a representative of. I incorporate different musical instruments in my music like Southern Rock, Blues, Country music, Bluegrass and all kinds of other elements. You aren’t going to find a song where you’re not going to say there is some pretty authentic rapping going on. If you listen to my new album, that’s a predominant theme. If you think about the ‘Ugly’ video with me in the pigpen being a country dude, it’s been embedded in who I am as an artist. I embrace both sides of being Southern and being country. I always say, ‘Before I’m White, country or Southern, I’m Hip Hop. I believe that Hip Hop defines me.’ To me, that’s a testament to how broad that term is and what Hip Hop has done. I don’t think any institution or concept more than religion has brought more people together in any other walks of life than Hip Hop. It’s a beautiful thing. I love being a part of this culture.”
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