With the release of his new album, the Texas rapper makes a concerted play towards a new audience. But will it pay off?
The first noise on BigXThaPlug’s latest album, I Hope You’re Happy, comes from a guitar. Now, that’s not all that strange for BigX, the Texas-born rapper who has always infused his rap music with the regional country music from his home state. What’s weird comes next. From the guitar comes a deep-fried blues lick, and the first voice on the record comes from Darius Rucker, also known as Hootie from Hootie and the Blowfish. In fact, each song on the project (outside of the two interludes on the 11-song album) features BigX teaming up with a country superstar. In order of appearance, the supporting cast includes: Rucker, Jelly Roll, Bailey Zimmerman, Ella Langley, Luke Combs, Shaboozey, Ink, Tucker Wetmore, and Thomas Rhett. As X tells it, the project came together in a spur-of-the-moment kind of way, an extension of his breakthrough 2023 twang-heavy hit “Texas.”
When I interviewed BigX in 2023, shortly after the song went all the way viral, I asked the Dallas rapper whether he listened to country music, since the video for the song featured him with a horse alongside more classic rap video shots of him and his crew hanging around the kind of cars Pimp C and Bun B used to spit about. His answer, within the scope of I Hope You’re Happy, is rather telling: “Not really. I know it’s probably sad because you would think, ‘Oh, he’s from Texas, he rides horses.’ Me in the video, that was actually the closest I’ve ever been to a horse [laughs].”
So, what changed? For one, country stars really love BigX. In an Apple Music Radio takeover, the MC hopped on the phone with Thomas Rhett, who mentioned that his band had been getting ready for gigs by blasting “The Largest.”
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The bones of I Hope You’re Happy arrived when BigX tossed off a mention in a Billboard interview that he was making a country album. It wasn’t a real thing, but a few days later, BigX recalled that Jelly Roll instructed in an interview, “Don’t put out the country album without me!” All of a sudden, I Hope You’re Happy was born.
Shortly after he began writing for the project, a long-term relationship ended, and he began penning the title track shortly after. In his head, country was the perfect medium to express his heartbreak. In an interview with New York Times’ “Popcast,” he explained: “What is country music? Country music is heartbreak and liquor. And so I’m in the middle of making a country project, and the one I love folded on me. You know what I’m saying? We break up, and the song I made after that happened was ‘I Hope You’re Happy.’ And it was just basically me writing a letter to her. I’m going through all this, I might as well talk about it.” If country music is ‘heartbreak,’ I’m not sure what rap is…Don’t tell Future that rappers can’t make a project about going through a relationship rough patch.
It’s a good story, but I (without any evidence) think the truth comes from the fact that there’s a ton of money in country music. The heartbreak, the trauma, the depression was certainly real. He’s rapped about it before. TAKE CARE has plenty of songs about love and breakups. But, the spectacle of BigXThaPlug going full country is not only a commercial goldmine, but a really shrewd way of acknowledging that the fanbases between rap and country have never been closer, have never needed less to merge. BigX is building that bridge, and it’s working.
“All The Way,” the first single from the project, already has over 125 million streams on Spotify alone. The Bailey Zimmerman-assisted cut initially dropped in April. The Shaboozey-featuring “Home” is nearing 17 million Spotify plays, though that song more clearly emphasizes the most cynical read of this effort. The song sounds like BigX and Shaboozey cosplaying in a stomp-clap cover band, shifting between “ho-hey” singalongs and spun out chopped n screwed-inspired rap. It’s a hollow mashup, less BigX goes country than BigX inviting a country star onto his song to play country music between his rap verses.
But, quality is almost besides the point. BigX is too big to fail, an entire industry on his own. It’s all part of the plan. He said during his “Popcast” interview: “…whatever I do, I want to be the best at it. And so I feel like I’m not just a hip-hop artist — I want to be the best artist in the world. The only way I can do that is if I can show that I can do something other than rap.” A lot of great rappers have fallen into this trap, looking for validation when they perceive a lack of respect from non-rap institutions. It’s a shame, but can you blame BigX? Despite the stunning success of the experiment, it’s probably for the best that it’s over…for now.
When asked about future forays into country by the “Popcast” hosts, BigX was quick to outline his next steps: “It’s too much. I already told my team, as much as I’ve enjoyed this country bag and I’ve enjoyed the people, I miss rap.”
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