In an
interview with American Songwriter, country singer Colt Ford talks about a conversation he had with The Notorious B.I.G., where Biggie revealed how he was influenced by some country icons.
I�ve always been impressed with hip hop lyrics, in just how many there are per line, and the creativity involved. Do you feel the same way?
Honestly, hip-hop and old country music is really not all that different. They�re storytellers just talking about a different story. But, hip-hop is important. I�ve done some things in the hip-hop world, written a couple things for a couple people, and I remember talking to Notorious B.I.G., before he died, and him going, �You know, I learned the art of story telling from my mother listening to Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash, and Merle Haggard.� His mother is from Jamaica, and in Jamaica they only have a reggae station and a country station. His mom liked that stuff, so she only had those records. He goes, �I would listen to these dudes: Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash, and Merle Haggard, and they told stories.�
You take some of the guys, lyrically, like Tupac, Biggie, Jay-Z, and Eminem and those dudes are un-freaking-believable. Listen to the words they are putting together, lyrically and sonically what they�re doing. It�s phenomenal. I�ve sat there and watched Jay-Z sit down and write 16 bar verses and never write anything down. He�ll have it all in his head, then go into the studio and lay it down. That�s bada**. I don�t care who you are. You write songs, and you don�t appreciate that, then you don�t know shit. [laughs] You don�t know anything about writing a song if you can�t appreciate what that�s like while looking at the lyrical content. For me, I�m doing five, six, seven words for their singing one. A lot of my artist friends are like, �How do you remember all that stuff?� I say, �Sometimes I don�t.� That�s what makes real music and live music fun! Sometimes you mess up. That�s okay. That�s music.
