[This
week, my amazing younger son Kyle turns 18! So I wanted to dedicate the week’s
blog series to AmericanStudying some Kyle Contexts, leading up to a repeat of
his excellent Guest Post on the OJ Simpson trial.]
Kyle is a
big fan of Kane Brown (whom he
and his brother are seeing in concert soon!), and also has a personal playlist
that moves smoothly between hard-core rap, hip hop, and country, so I wanted to
dedicate this post to highlighting a handful of examples of historic musical
crossovers:
1)
Popera
Performances: Perhaps the most striking crossover genre is popera, a form
that combines one of the oldest enduring forms of musical performance with one
of its most overtly contemporary. That hyperlinked last.fm page highlights many
of the individual artists who have embodied this combinatory cultural medium, but
I would also note that many popera performances feature duets
between artists in each respective genre. Either way, popera represents
what’s possible when genres truly crossover.
2)
Anthrax and Rap: At a
very, very different place on the crossover spectrum is Anthrax, a heavy metal
band who had been profoundly influenced by rap & hip hop, incorporated those
genres into their own music, and then produced pioneering collaborations such
as their
song with rap legends Public
Enemy. Much is (rightly) made of Aerosmith
and Run-DMC’s collab, but that a remix of an exiting song, while Anthrax’s
multilayered crossovers and collabs were original and to my mind even more groundbreaking.
3)
Jones Jazzes Up Pop: These next two are just individual
artists whose music crosses generic boundaries. Jazz and pop have been crossing
over since at least Louis
Armstrong (and we could say since Scott
Joplin himself), but in the 21st century no artist embodies that
crossover combination better than Norah
Jones. Through nine studio albums and a great deal more, Jones have brought
the worlds and audiences of jazz and pop together in groundbreaking ways, creating
profoundly American music in the process.
4)
Lil
Nas Xplodes: It’s not a hierarchy nor a competition, but I’d say that a
crossover between hip hop and country is even more profoundly American (or at
least more rare), though. We’ve seen a variety of such crossover artists as
well as songs in recent years, with Kane Brown himself high on the list. But no
hip hop-country crossover artist and song achieved
more success, nor as I wrote in the hyperlinked post at the start of this
entry generated more controversy, than did Lil Nas X and “Old Town Road.” And
honestly, if he’s making white
racists mad, he’s doing exactly what crossovers should do.
5)
Parton Rocks Out: This is a simpler one—I just
really love that country (and American, and universal) legend
Dolly Parton recently released
an album of rock and roll originals and covers, and by all counts it is
phenomenal. Not sure it’ll end up on Kyle’s playlist, but it’s definitely on
mine!
Next
context tomorrow,
Ben
PS. Lemme
know any bday wishes I can pass along to my not-so-young man!
