“Their wish for all the Beyoncé uproar? Those folks will finally recognize that Black women and girls reign supreme at the rodeo. Carter added that most people questioned why Bey, a Houston native, hadn’t entered the country music scene sooner.”
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Discussion 2 comments
Thank you for posting. I did not know about this contribution to rodeo culture, but I needed to.
Great read. I grew up in San Antonio and pretty much all of the men on my Mom's side are just straight-up cowboys. The only picture I've seen of my great-grandfather is him on his horse on his land looking like he stepped off the set of a Hollywood western. Aside from the westerns on TCM my grandpa used to watch on loop I only ever saw black cowboys.
The music thing is even more interesting to me because there's always been a connection between country music and southern black music, definitely in Texas and especially in Houston where Beyonce is from. And more than just the normal "the blues is the same as country music" statement, I'm talking about the degree to which rap culture and cowboy culture in Texas were intertwined. Pimp C from UGK put it best when he said "down here we ain't making hip-hop songs, we making country rap tunes" on Belts to Match. When I listen to Swishahouse's "Still Tippin" it's hard to not hear the "country rap tune" in it, even in the lyrics where Slim Thug says "pieced up, creased up, stayin' dressed to impress Big boss belt buckle under my Mitchell & Ness" is talking about a hyper-specific fashion trend of wearing huge cowboy belt buckles and obnoxiously starched jeans (seriously, the standard was your jeans should be able to stand up on their own). Beyonce is from all of that so I have to agree with Carter's surprise that she hasn't had more country music already.
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