Chanel West Coast has been fielding criticism since she moved from hip-hop into country, and her answer is that the criticism was always there. "I got it when I was rapping and doing Hip-Hop, and now I'm still getting it doing country," she said, before asking what, in that case, she is supposed to be.
That is the argument she keeps returning to. If the objection follows an artist across two genres, it is not really about either of them. "I think I'm just a person who loves music," she said, framing her identity as something other than a genre slot.
She has been explicit that this is a full commitment rather than a side experiment. Her single Tennessee, released in early September, leans on the storytelling country is built around rather than the production-first approach that shaped her rap records.
The move also follows earlier comments about where she thinks hip-hop is heading. She has said the genre has shifted into a darker space and that she wants to make classier, more positive material, naming Lauryn Hill as the kind of artist she has in mind.
Her response to the pushback is to count the other side of the ledger. Speaking to Us Weekly, she said she looks past the negative comments and at the people telling her a song has resonated with them, and that hearing from listeners who play a track twenty times in a week is why she makes music at all.
What she has behind her is a platform most genre-switchers do not have: years of television on MTV's Ridiculousness and her own reality series, which means she can take a commercial risk without needing industry approval first. Whether country radio and country listeners accept the move is a separate question, and one no interview settles.
More country coverage sits on our country hub, and our hip-hop coverage is on the hip-hop hub.
The facts
- Chanel West Coast says she will not apologise for moving into country.
- She says the criticism followed her from hip-hop into country.
- She released a country single called Tennessee in early September.
- She describes herself as a person who loves music rather than a genre act.
- She has said hip-hop has shifted into a darker space.
- She cites Lauryn Hill as a reference for classier, more positive music.
- The longer quotes in the report are attributed to Us Weekly.
- She built her platform on MTV's Ridiculousness and her own reality series.
How this checks out
Single source
Reported by a single outlet
Only one outlet has reported it so far, so it stays a single source.
Cited sources 1
Every outlet that reported this, linked to what it published. Equal credits, in alphabetical order.