Country-rap fusion required hip-hop to take the musical lead

Evidence

Yet country music long borrowed from mainstream pop trends to stay relevant. By the late 2010s, trap-influenced beats began creeping into country tracks in an appeal to Top 40 radio. Bebe Rexha’s collaboration with country act Florida Georgia Line, “Meant to Be,” used the 808 kicks and snaps of Southern rap. But for such fusions to be embraced as innovative, hip-hop needed to take the lead. This arguably began with Young Thug’s 2017 mixtape, Beautiful Thugger Girls, but the particularly catchy fusion of country, trap, and alternative in “Old Town Road”—and its rise on TikTok—fueled an especially explosive pop moment. — W. David Marx, Blank Space, 628