The Internets was on fire yesterday (April 8) after country music star Brad Paisley dropped his new song “Accidental Racist,” featuring veteran rapper-actor LL Cool J. Paisley shared in an upcoming print interview why he decided to release the controversial track, although it appears the West Virginia native is not necessarily an expert on race relations.
Paisley’s latest single turned heads after the release of the track, with most agreeing it was a fumbling attempt to draw attention to the serious matter of racism. Sitting with Entertainment Weekly, Paisley spoke about what inspired “Accidental Racist” and his hope that it will spark necessary conversations around the touchy topic of race.
Excerpts from the interview via EW’s Music Mix:
This isn’t a stunt. This isn’t something that I just came up with just to be sort of shocking or anything like that. I knew it would be, but I’m sort of doing it in spite of that, really.
I’m doing it because it just feels more relevant than it even did a few years ago. I think that we’re going through an adolescence in America when it comes to race. You know, it’s like we’re almost grown up.
It really came to a boil last year with Lincoln and Django, and there’s just a lot of talk about it. It was really obvious to me that we still have issues as a nation with this.
Paisley’s thoughts on how best to counter may come from a genuine place, but this song tackles the uncomfortable subject in a haphazard way.
Projecting his “southern pride” as a contrast to LL’s northern sensibilities to highlight the divide, Paisley misses the mark completely. Using that same pride argument to mention New York’s former support of slavery in the 19th Century, Paisley said it was “hypocritical” to blame the South for the spread of the long-outlawed labor practice.
Let us know what you think of “Accidental Racist” in the comments.
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Photo: Kevin Mazur/WireImage
