Best paired with: Hoppin’ john
Queen B has gone country with her latest single, and some Nashvillians are quaking in their $10,000 boots.
Genre gatekeeping is stupid. And the only thing that makes it stupider is defending the very genre that made Luke Bryan a star. Modern country music is living proof that white people can ruin anything, including the blues.
Especially the blues.
Speaking of white people ruining stuff, hoppin’ john actually evolved from a rice-and-bean dish by the Gullah, an African-American ethnic group who predominantly live in the Lowcountry region of South Carolina. But the hoppin’ john I know is served over white rice and features a stick-to-your-ribs blend of bacon, onion, celery, carrots, and black-eyed peas. Which is apt in this context, because a black eye is exactly what I’d like to give to the next person who tries to tell me who does or does not belong in their endlessly redundant, watered-down, boring-ass genre.
Oh sure. Morgan Wallen can use 808s (along with other choice words) and it’s all good. But god forbid Beyoncé wears a cowboy hat and sings about poker.
Am I falling for the manufactured drama from dubious media outlets farming clicks? Maybe. But this kind of outrage has happened often enough where I think I can safely say, “Shut up and line-dance.”
