I’m skipping over #9 and #10 on this week’s Billboard Hot 100 because they’ve already been featured on the blog: Teddy Swims’ ‘Lose Control’ and Benson Boone’s ‘Beautiful Things.’ Those songs have been on this chart for quite a while, a record-breaking number of weeks in the case of ‘Lose Control.’
At #11 is a country/rap hybrid by Texan rapper BigXthaPlug, accompanied by Illinois country singer Bailey Zimmerman. This is the first foray into country music by BigXthaPlug and by far his most successful release, having peaked at #4. His next highest charter reached #63.
I guess BigX saw which way the Billboard winds were blowing. If one development has surprised me over the past decade or so, it’s the emergence of country music as top ten fodder. In the nearly 70 years of the Hot 100, a third of the 27 country songs to reach #1 have come in the last five years.
And that’s just #1. A slew of country songs (almost all by men) have littered the top ten in recent years.
I think part of the reason is that modern country artists have embraced sounds usually associated with hip-hop. Seeing a song like this on the chart makes a lot of sense.
Don’t let me down easy, if you’re gonna leave me
Baby, go and leave me all the way
Don’t ask for all your things back, cussin’ out my name, yeah
Just to go and take back what you say
Burn all the bridges, don’t ask forgiveness
Walk away like I’m someone you hate
Don’t let me down easy, if you’re gonna leave me
Baby, go and leave me all the way
[Verse 1: BigXthaPlug]
Ayy, if it’s over, it’s over, so fuck it
Just don’t act like my love wasn’t nothin’
Like I wasn’t the one you was holdin’ at night
Tellin’ all of your secrets and huggin’
Guess you right, it’s too good to be true
What’s the point? All I needed was you
But shit, time after time, all this fussin’ and fighting
It’s time that you do what you do
And it’s cool
Mama said it was fish in the sea, I got lost in the pool
Knew it was comin’, I watched how you move
How you turn your back on me and leave me to lose?
Remember the text, how you said that you’d do
Said that you’d never leave, we would fight ’til it’s due
But as it went on, I was fightin’ for you
Sent a text, it turned green, why the fuck it ain’t blue?
Guess you done and I get it
Said you’d stay and you wanted my name and you left, so I’m guessin’ that you never meant it
Said you’d try and hold on ’cause the love was so strong, now I’m standing alone this kitchen
Singin’ sad songs, but I’m knowin’ that this shit don’t last long
If you leavin’, then leave ’cause your bags gone
But just know, you can never come back home
[Chorus: Bailey Zimmerman]
Don’t let me down easy, if you’re gonna leave me
Baby, go and leave me all the way
Don’t ask for all your things back, cussin’ out my name, yeah
Just to go and take back what you say
Burn all the bridges, don’t ask forgiveness
Walk away like I’m someone you hate
Don’t let me down easy, if you’re gonna leave me
Baby, go and leave me all the way
[Verse 2: BigXthaPlug]
Ayy, if you say that you done, ain’t no take backs
Said you fell out of love and I hate that
But see me, I was stuck like a drug, really fiendin’ for love and somehow, I can’t shake back
When you walked out that door, I was hurtin’
All the dreams in my head, you was perfect
You remember the very first time that we chilled and I reached for your hand, where them nerves at?
Time will pass and shit, that’s what it do
It be times I be sick, sittin’ thinkin’ ’bout you
It was death do us part ’til you gave me the blues
Really played my heart, left me lost and confused
Thought this shit was fair game, but you made up the rules
On my heart, left a scar and a bruise
Hope that you can stand on all the shit that you did
‘Cause I’m done, yeah, I’m finally through
[Chorus: Bailey Zimmerman]
Don’t let me down easy, if you’re gonna leave me
Baby, go and leave me all the way
Don’t ask for all your things back, cussin’ out my name, yeah
Just to go and take back what you say
Burn all the bridges, don’t ask forgiveness
Walk away like I’m someone you hate
Don’t let me down easy, if you’re gonna leave me
Baby, go and leave me all the way
Meet Me In Montauk 
Country music has definitely morphed and evolved, greatly expanding its popularity, even with someone like me who eschewed country for years.