this is a person who has a very intense relationship with a very large body of fans. - you went to the concert, and you saw the concert filmed, right? three hours, yes, well-spent. - (singing) i wanna house you and make you take my name i ve met so many of my goals, and i just keep making new goals because i m never satisfied, and i always want to grow. - well, the highly anticipated second act to beyoncé s renaissance project, cowboy carter, dropped last night. - you guys, oh, my god. - i m crying. - she s the first black woman ever to top the billboard s hot country songs chart. - there is a public perception about country music that it is a predominantly white genre. - i mean, i ve seen people say things like, i didn t know that there were black country singers. - it s kind of an industry that takes care of its own. - it has not been a genre that has been accepting of black people. - you often find partisans of country music saying, well, this is or that ain t country. -
[music playing] - beyoncé is the greatest entertainer of her generation. this is a person who has a very intense relationship with a very large body of fans. - you went to the concert, and you saw the concert filmed, right? three hours, yes, well-spent. - (singing) i wanna house you and make you take my name i ve met so many of my goals, and i just keep making new goals because i m never satisfied, and i always want to grow. - well, the highly anticipated second act to beyoncé s renaissance project, cowboy carter, dropped last night. - you guys, oh, my god. - i m crying. - she s the first black woman ever to top the billboard s hot country songs chart. - there is a public perception about country music that it is a predominantly white genre. - i mean, i ve seen people say things like, i didn t know that there were black country singers. - it s kind of an industry that takes care of its own. - it has not been a genre that has been accepting of black people. - you often find
this period has the full phalanx of industry support, it s beyonce. li lil nazx s old was on the country charts and then removed from the country charts because it wasn t country enough. that ended up 17 weeks number one on billboard hot 100. holly g., i know you have gotten a lot of pushback, a lot of really threats because of your highlight of this. it s actually part of the reason why you are going by holly g. and not your full first and last name. are you surprised by what the response has been to highlight ing this disparity in the genera? i ll be honest, usually, no, buts with tracy chapman things, it does surprise me a little bit, because tracy chapman was such a revolutionary artist and she stood up for all the things that i believe in and she was such a pioneer. the things that are fans of hers that are having an issue with what i m saying about must not
genre? and if there is some explanation i m happy to find it, and we can figure out whatever it is, and we can fix it and move forward, because the only thing we want to see is for it to get better. a lot of people assume we are trained to call out or talk down on, but i am criticizing country music, because i love it and i wanted to be better and i want to feel safe in it, and i want people, like tracy chapman, to have their own success, without the deals bringing it to the top. it harkens back to james baldwin s famous quote. i love this country more than any of other, and i reserve the right to criticize it. holly g, thank you so much for your time. appreciate it. thank you so much for your time, laura. well, cnn tonight starts right now with john berman. hey, john, have a new song stuck in your head, enjoy. thank you so much for tracy chapman from massachusetts. in the meantime, the special counsel of jared kushner, is ron desantis the new jeb bush? and it turns out the
and number two overall. for perspective, chapman s version went as high as number six. for more i want to bring in holly g, the founder and co-director of black aubrey, an organization for black country music singers and fans. holly g, i am so glad that you are here thank you for joining me this evening. from your perspective, why do you think that combs as version as it seen maybe more immediate success on the chart then tracey chapman s version? well, tracey chapman has never been acknowledged by the country music industry and the only reason her work is being celebrated now within the industry is because luke combs, it was a great artist, but he put a white face to the music and so he stripped the barriers that tracy would ve faced in the industry and made it easier for it to be a hit because it s a really great song. it s an incredible song. the lyrics, the intonation of her voice, everything about it. but people, do they necessarily associate tracey chapman with