Many artists over the years have, after achieving success with a particular song, tried to give it a chance at success in another genre. As artists like Nelly, Breland, and Lundacris have discovered, if it can be country, it can also be hip-hop. Here are some of our favorite hip-hop country crossovers that have proven their assumptions to be correct.
Videos by Wide Open Country
Over and Over - Nelly ft. Tim McGraw
One of the earliest country and hip-hop collaborations, "Over and Over" made waves on both the Billboard Charts and country radio airplay. Rapper Nelly has been known to put his own spins on songs by artists like Florida Georgia Line, Kane Brown, and Darius Rucker, but his collaboration with McGraw was one of the first in this realm to be as successful as it was. It's also interesting because this song is more of a ballad, and the genre blend still contributed significantly to the song's overall appeal.
My Truck (Remix) - Breland ft. Sam Hunt
"My Truck" was country and hip-hop artist Breland's debut single, which peaked at No. 26 on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart before a collaboration with Sam Hunt was even in the works. However, after the song had achieved significant success on TikTok, Hunt decided to hop on and contribute a verse, and the rest is history. This brought the song to double-platinum certification, establishing it as a successful crossover hit, and establishing Breland as a killer collaborator to watch, who would go on to work with artists like HARDY, Keith Urban, and Thomas Rhett.
Dirt Road Anthem (Remix) - Jason Aldean ft. Ludacris
"Dirt Road Anthem", initially released by Colt Ford, was later covered by Aldean for his album My Kinda Party, which helped repopularize the song. Aldean brought his version to Ludacris as a live performance first, when the two artists needed something to perform at the 2011 CMT Awards. This performance went over so well that Aldean and Ludacris released it as a digital download in June of 2011 as an epic hip-hop country crossover. This collaboration was significant because it occurred at the very beginning of the "bro-country" era and set a precedent for future crossovers in this genre of music.
Photo by: Jason Davis/Getty Images for ACM
