Country music star Luke Holmes's crossover cover of Tracy Chapman's Fast Car has
unfortunately and inevitably opened up new discourse regarding and alleging racism.
Now, The Washington Post took the lead on this,
arguing that as a black woman, Chapman's 1988 song didn't receive
the accolades that a white male country singer is enjoying today.
But a closer look shows you that this narrative is complete and utter BS.
In fact, some of you might be too young to remember what the 90s was like or
what kind of music was played on the radio over and over again.
But I assure you that Tracy Chapman's songs were celebrated,
were played quite a bit.
And I'm glad that this story broke, because it's given me an opportunity to
listen to and remember how much I loved her music.
Now, I wanna read you a few excerpts from Emily Yarr's piece in
The Washington Post about this.
She writes to quite a few people this is cause for yet
another celebration in Combs's whirlwind journey as the genre's
reigning megastar with 16 consecutive number one hits.
But it has also prompted a wave of complicated
feelings among some listeners and in the Nashville music community.
Did it?
Okay, well, why?
Well, she continues by explaining that although many are thrilled to
see Fast Car back in the spotlight and a new generation discovering Chapman's work,
it's clouded by the fact that as a black queer woman, Chapman, 59,
would have almost zero chance of that achievement herself in country music.
Now, Emily Yarr is specific there by noting country music,
but Tracy Chapman's music was not in the country genre, and
given the genre it was in, it was not only celebrated, it was awarded quite a bit.
So just to give you a few notes, Chapman released her debut
album in 1988, and that was the album that Fast Car was in.
And the album was certified six time platinum by
the Recording Industry Association of America.
The album also received six Grammy nominations, and
she went on to win three that year.
So the three categories that she won the Grammys in included best new artist,
best contemporary folk album, best female pop vocal performance for
Fast Car, specifically.
So it was definitely celebrated.
Everyone loved her music.
But Tanner Davenport, who is the co director of the Black Opry,
says the immediate success of Combs's Fast Car kind of just proves
that when you put a white face on black art, it seems to be consumed a lot easier.
That's just complete revisionist history.
I have even more information about how much her music was celebrated,
rightfully so.
And what is frustrating about this is how it's fabricating and
manufacturing a needless race narrative.
>> Yeah, so guys, did that happen in the past?
Definitely, right?
So Elvis took a lot of songs from the black community, and so there's a heated
debate about as to whether he gave proper credit, and most people think he did.
Not right, but some say he did.
So that's for musical stories, etc.
But is it a fact that black artists would come up with songs, beats, etc, and
they would not take off because of racism and being blocked on the radio, etc.
And then white artists would do the same thing, and
it would take off like a rocket.
And then they would keep the money and the black artists wouldn't get any of it.
Definitely look into music history that happened, and
then that rains down on us through the generations, etc.
So it's not like it's necessarily completely eradicated.
Now, having said that, is today the same as back then?
No, of course not.
It's preposterous to say that.
Are there successful African American musicians?
Are we having this conversation?
Do people understand how mental that conversation is?
I think Beyonce's okay.
I think Jay Z is doing all right.
Should I go on?
The greatest entertainers, musicians, singers, right?
We have now are almost universally black.
That's not true, there's Taylor Swift.
There's others, right?
But they're certainly well represented.
And then this sleight of hand was in country music.
But wait a minute.
Would George Michael have been well received in country music and
he's a white male?
No, probably not, because he did Careless Frickin'whisper, okay.
And it's not country music.
>> Which was a great song, by the way.
>> Right, would Ricky Martin be well received in country music?
Probably not.
But is it because he's Latino?
No, because it's a different kind of music.
>> Exactly.
>> So I'm not saying that there's no racism in country music.
I'm not saying that there's no discrimination.
But using this as an example, it hurts your cause because it sounds ridiculous.
Tracy Chapman is a legend.
I don't know anyone who doesn't think Tracy Chapman has gotten enough credit,
because people give her tons of credit, and rightfully so.
>> Are we ever gonna get to a point in the country where white female reporters
aren't just gonna fabricate a race narrative in a perfectly lovely story?
Tracy Chapman herself, who is a very private individual,
who does not speak to the media, likes to keep to fact.
Previous statements made it abundantly clear that she liked to separate out her
music career from her personal life,
which is why she doesn't give a lot of statements to the press.
But she did give a statement to the press in regard to this story, and
she's super stoked.
Wanna know why she's super stoked?
Because she has publishing rights to this music.
And because she has publishing rights to this music,
this crossover cover has made her a lot of money.
A lot of money.
I'm gonna go to other elements here, but
I wanna skip ahead to what she says.
This is graphic eight.
I never expected to find myself on the country charts, but
I'm honored to be there.
I'm happy for Luke and his success and grateful that new fans have found and
embraced Fast Car.
>> Wow, she sounds really impressed.
>> Right, and let's go to the next graphic.
So Combs's version has generated at least half a million dollars in global
publishing royalties, billboard estimates, with the bulk going to Chapman,
who owns both the writers and publishers share of the song.
>> Now, if Tracy Chapman wasn't getting the proper credit financially as well as
other ways, then I'm 100% on your side.
And I go, why?
She's the creator of this song.
There's no question.
This guy's doing a cover song, right?
But she's 100% on board ideologically.
Like, yeah, sure, people do covers of that song.
It's taken off again.
And it's on country charts, which it wasn't before.
That's great, she says, what are we disagreeing with her?
>> No, no, no.
>> How insane is that?
>> We should be aggrieved on her behalf and
just fabricate a drama and a conflict that doesn't exist.
>> What did you want Luke Combs to do?
Not do it.
So then Tracy Chapman wouldn't have half a million dollars right now.
I don't get it.
And guys, so the main point here is I don't know this particular report.
I don't even know what her ethnicity is.
But that's not the point.
I'm sure that it's bubbling up, and I know people some people are gonna
get super mad at this, but we don't have to make everything racial.
Not every single thing has to be okay, that we're gonna find racism here.
Even though the black artist is saying she's thrilled and
she loves that her music is going to country music fans, and
it's not just about the money she's making.
She likes that it's being introduced to more people.
>> Exactly, yeah.
>> And it's from a black artist.
That's not a bad thing.
That's a great thing.
>> So I wanna go to her tweet, The Washington Post reporter's tweet about
this, because even Twitter felt the need to correct or at least provide some
context to make it clear how popular Tracy Chapman and her music was.
So she writes, as Luke Combs's hit cover of Tracy Chapman's Fast Car dominates
the country charts, it's bringing up some complicated emotions in fans and
singers who know that Chapman, as a queer black woman,
would have an almost zero chance at that achievement herself.
>> Except she just did.
>> Won three Grammys for that specific album, and
one of those Grammys was in regard to that specific song.
And by the way, Twitter felt the need to add context to it, writing that Fast Car
by Tracy Chapman was nominated for three Grammys or Grammy Awards.
I'm sorry, nominated for six, not three.
She won three, including Record of the Year and Song of the Year.
She won for best female pop vocal performance and best new artist.
And she has seven other nominations for Grammy Awards and two wins.
>> So Luke Combs would have no chance of one of his original
songs doing breaking through in the smooth jazz category.
Is that racist against white people?
No, it's just the wrong category.
And in this case,
it's actually Tracy Chapman's song that did break through in country music just
happened to be sung by Luke Combs, which he was perfectly happy with.
All right, you guys get but if there's some in the community who are like,
nope, this is definitely racial.
And even though no one is aggrieved, there's no victim, there's no nothing,
and everybody's thrilled with how this has gone, we're gonna call it racial anyway.
I have added Haas.
But you lose credibility every time you do something like this.
>> Yeah, you lose credibility and you needlessly, I think,
expand divisions in the country over nonsense,
over totally fabricated conflicts that don't need to be fabricated at all.
If the two parties here are happy with the situation,
if Tracy Chapman is celebrating this, and she's really the individual here,
who, if anything, would be aggrieved if there was a problem in place,
why are random people, including random reporters, needlessly injecting
themselves into this situation again to fabricate a conflict that doesn't exist?
>> Super last thing.
>> Look, life is about perspectives, right?
How you view certain things.
Almost like a filter on Instagram, right?
So the filter that they could have gone with instead here is they could have been
like, my God.
The song of a queer black woman is number one on the country charts.
Isn't that amazing?
What a great day in America.
That would be equally true, wouldn't it?
In fact, it would be more true.
>> And the fact that that song, in particular, the lyrics of that song,
I mean, it close to home for Americans across the country.
>> Yeah. >> Right?
>> She got all Americans to relate to a queer black woman's plight,
and now all of the country music fans are relating to it.
That's a giant win.
I'll take the win.
Thank you.
Thank you, Tracy Chapman.
And thank you, Luke Combs.