Diva Two-Step
by FRESNO BoB
If I were running a Grant Cardone model created around hype – it would be rule 404 – tap the Beehive. I will come back to that in a little while. It’s called foreshadowing in the writing world.
While sitting on the edge of my bed again, glaring at my cracked Android screen, I stumbled upon a particular YouTube video. There was a Mocha-skinned, Barbie clone, decked out like a modern-day May West. It was Beyonce! Make no mention of aesthetics, it will all come back around in the end.
Nothing is a coincidence – because coincidences don’t make money. She strutted around the Grammy Awards – not known as a haven for Country Music – drawing all kinds of attention from the social media gawkers. Some good. Some bad. Yet, no attention is bad attention in the world of Hollyweird.
The former front woman of Destiny’s child was making another power move for the world to see—all of them so calculated. Yet, it should not surprise us, that the Queen of R&B has country infused in her plasma. I mean, she is from the great state of Texas.
The Texan-sound has reverberated in the genres of Hip-Hop and R&B for as long as I can remember. The artist from the Lone Star Republic, never shies away from the slow, melodic tone that brings our ears to attention like a rattlesnake, warning us all – this stuff is hot!!
The Texan sound has the echoes of country reverberating in every slow-paced octave.
My Mind playing Tricks by the Geto Boys embraced the western country harmony, which has long time been the antithesis of Hip-Hop music, but somehow the Houston Boys were strange bed-fellows with the cowboy’s music of choice. The slowed-down-pace fits perfectly with the country-sound structure, streaming from a big truck, in a large field, next to a towering oil rig that hovers over like metal monsters.
Wait, let’s get back to Beyonce Barbie, the unofficial queen of the new-aged R&B, which in itself was going the way of the glue factory, readying to be slayed by the ever-growing, electronic pop popularity. Sorry to be so crass, but the old don’t usually survive in the music biz… and when I say old – I mean 30ish.
So, Jigga’s wife reinvents herself, like a music Albert Einstein – she found a formula for the mainstream once again. She just had to wait for Little Nas X to test those vicious waters. With the validation of Billy Ray Cyrus, he was able to show the powerful combination of Country and Hip-Hop.
The genre became like a lyrical narcotic – hitting ears everywhere! Beyonce had seen it and knew that she was a natural fit for this music hybrid.
However, Cancel Culture derailed the budding superstar from Harlem-Shaking his way into the Country Music Hoedown. They were not ready for the out-of-the-closet Country Hip-Hop singer or rapper.
Tomato – Tomatoes sound, sounds, and more sounds. Country Music probably could have endured, but didn’t have to.
It’s probably Garth Brooks’s fault, making the trailer park, Bud Light sipping, wife-slapping lyrics so mainstream – MTV came calling and he was put into the same Zeitgeist as the Kid from Gary. Perhaps, it was the Dixie Chicks, elevating their trio of voices which soon became an anti-war cry. Their political stance became the flavor of the month until they disappeared into the shadow of obscurity.
Maybe, we can blame the Florida/Georgia line which brought us Country Music in the form of Confederate, Back Street Boys, making Country Music: Pop. Country Music has endured, still remaining one of the highest-grossing music categories with an extremely, loyal fan base.
Flash forward to today, Bo Duke protests Beyonce’s two-step into the clandestine musical field from Tyler Perry’s Studios.
I’m not a conspiracist, but I have to call a Spade a Spade or a Heart a Heart. Anytime, you tap the Bee Hive, they come calling. Keeping Beyonce’s new voyage hot until the album dropped. All news is good news, in the world of publicity. Little Nas X took the first bullets and let the Queen move into the space, he kept warm. He showed how lucrative the Rap/Country mash could be. The Queen has the possibility to corner the market on that market.
Returning to the beginning. In essence, tapping the Beehive can make you famous or infamous. The honey is the money. Beyonce is already number one on most of the music charts. R&B is dying, but Country is here forever.
