Akon is the latest hip-hop artist to venture into the world of country.
TMZ caught up with Akon as he was signing autographs in New York City and asked his thoughts about artists like Snoop and BigXthaPlug collaborating with country artists. That’s when he revealed that he’s been working on remixing songs from his catalog into country songs featuring country artists.
“I’m actually redoing my whole catalog in country,” Akon said. “I’m not even joking… This has been an idea for years like forever. The project has been in motion for the last five years. But starting next month, y’all gonna start seeing all the releases.”
He also added that records like his hit song “Locked Up” will be included and that the tracks will be performed by the country artists while he plays more of a guest role. “They’re country artists featuring me. They’re the ones performing them.”
This country and hip-hop link-up era that we’re seeing now isn’t anything new. Nelly and Tim McGraw most notably collaborated on the smash “Over and Over” in 2004, which peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and spent six months on the chart. BigXthaPlug recently did a song called “All the Way” with country singer Bailey Zimmerman, scoring the Texas rapper’s highest-charting song to date as it currently sits at No. 4 on the Hot 100. Snoop also just dropped “Gettin’ Gone” with Nashville star ERNEST.
The world may need a country version of “Smack That.”
