Blanco Brown Brings Trap Music to the Trailer Park on ‘The Git Up’
Don't be the last to know about this genre-bending streaming hit.
Intriguing newcomer Blanco Brown has a viral hit on his hands with his danceable country-rap hybrid, “The Git Up,” having just wowed unsuspecting fans at this year’s CMA Music Festival as he tops multiple global streaming charts.
The irresistible track — which fuses a twangy, Georgia-bred vocal flow with low-and slow beats and lyrics designed like how-to instructions — made the flamboyant entertainer a surprise highlight during his seven CMA Fest performances, and it’s been turning heads online, too. “The Git Up” sat at No.1 on Spotify’s Global Viral 50, as well as the US Viral 50, Canada Viral 50 and Australia Viral 50 charts, and it also was the No.3 download on iTunes’ US Country chart.
Backstage at Nashville’s Ascend Amphitheater during CMA Fest, Brown filled Sounds Like Nashville in on the track and where his unique musical blend comes from — including his genuine love of country.
“I started out with country music as a young kid just singing records over and over again,” Brown said. “The first record I knew was Tim McGraw’s [“Dont Take the Girl”], and then I fell in love with Johnny Cash — but I’m also a big fan and supporter of Outkast, and that’s really what my music is. It’s trailer park music meets trap music, I bridge the gap and call it ‘trailer trap.'”
Having already worked as a producer for big pop and hip hop stars like Fergie, Childish Gambino and more, Brown says his friends were skeptical when he first started making country music, but he knew his sound had potential to bridge demographic divides.
“My friends started laughing at me like ‘You can’t sing no country music, you’re black!’” he admits. “So I started putting 808 [drum machine beats] with it and made everybody listen, no matter what color you were, and that’s how it all translated.”
“The Git Up” was released in April, and last month Brown dropped a tutorial video showing listeners how to do its line-dancing inspired dance moves. At CMA Fest, fans seemed to start embracing Brown’s message. He hosted a #GitUpChallenge at Wildhorse Saloon among his weekend full of shows, leading a big crowd in dance lessons that — along with the huge success of Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” — seemed to hint that country fans are ready to dispel the old cliches of their close-minded listening habits for good.
“I feel like music now is about lifestyle,” Brown said. “When I go to a Sam Hunt concert or a Kane Brown concert or Jason Aldean, when I leave those concerts people are playing [hip-hop stars] Future and Migos, and it just feels like the world is getting on the same pattern at the same time. … Everybody at the same moment just realizes this is something they’ve been missing, and I feel like that’s what my music is. It’s refreshing, and it’s a lifestyle. You can hear some twang and some 808s, you get it all in one.”
Brown’s four-track EP debut is out now.
