LA Weekly |
By Caitlin White
Earlier this month Phonte dropped much knowledge about which rappers correspond to which classic television shows. To wit: Jay is The Wire; Nas is Breaking Bad; Kanye is Lost; East Bound and Down is Action Bronson, etc. It's a fun game, and anyone who thinks too much about hip-hop has definitely tried their hand at playing in some form or other. Here, we compare rappers to female country stars. Because why not? GO!
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Biggie Smalls is Dolly Parton
There's no question that Biggie Smalls is Dolly Parton.The impact they've had on their respective genres is as huge as Dolly's bust or Biggie's waistline, and both performers challenged their roles in society. Odds are, if Biggie was still alive, he'd have his own amusement park and a hefty stack of awards, just like Dolly.
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Tupac is Tammy Wynette
Tupac and Tammy share an independent streak that separated them from the pack. Wynette sang about divorce and loneliness instead of happy endings, redefining the boundaries of what women could discuss in their art. As one of the earliest and most popular West Coast rappers, Tupac was at the fore of a whole new breed of hip-hop.
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LL Cool J is Reba McEntire
Both OGs who owned the game in their hey day, Reba and LL have fallen off a bit since their respective golden eras. But when you see LL Cool J on NCIS: Los Angeles and Reba on her self-title sitcom, you can't help but respect the hustle.
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Jay Z is Faith Hill
Where would Jay and Faith be without Tim McGraw and Beyonce Knowles? But aside from their couple star status, from the fuck-it-all attitude of “99 Problems” and the world-stopping power of “This Kiss,” both Jay and Faith crossed over into the mainstream and never looked back.
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Nas is Martina McBride
Unlike Jay Z or Faith Hill, both Nas and Martina McBride never really made the big leap into pop stardom. While they're each celebrated as pioneers and impeccable performers in the realms of hip-hop and country, neither have gained the celebrity traction their talent warrants.
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Outkast are the Dixie Chicks
Both of these Southern based groups had a huge influence on the formative sound of their respective genres. The Southern sounds Andre 3000 and Big Boi helped popularize in mainstream hip-hop find their counterpoint in the bluegrass that the Chicks brought to country pop.
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Loretta Lynn is Lil Wayne
What unites Lil Wayne and Loretta Lynn? Being really fucking weird. When Wayne is celebrating cunnilingus in the world's most complete set of similes, he finds a worthy match in the oddness of Lynn. After all, she penned a song glorifying “The Pill” back in 1975–in America's most conservative genre. Then there's her 2004 collaboration with Jack White, which was almost as unconventional as that song Lil Wayne did with Weezer. Weirdos doing it right, at 31 and 81 respectively.
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Kanye West is Shania Twain
Kanye West with his “pink ass polo” and “fucking backpack” did, indeed, bring so-called real rap back, and his break with tradition isn't too far from the moves that Shania Twain was making about a decade earlier. She broke boundaries for female country superstars by infusing a strong sense of feminine agency into undeniable chart-topping hits. “Jesus Walks” is just as unlikely a hit as “Man, I Feel Like a Woman”–but they both electrified the musical culture of the time.
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Kendrick Lamar is Kacey Musgraves
While Kendrick is famous for the anti-booze “Swimming Pools,” Kacey turned some heads earlier this year with her drug-condoning behavior on “Follow Your Arrow” that explicitly refers to rolling a joint.
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Drake is Taylor Swift
When it comes to passive aggressively shaming your exes for their appalling behavior, no one has T-Swift and Drizzy beat. What would happen if the two ever had a romantic encounter? Obviously they'd break up since they're both clearly self-involved, but the wave of subtweets, subliminal messages in songs and break-up shade that would ensue would be epic.
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