Hit-Boy is coming to Beyoncé‘s defense against those who don’t categorize her new songs as country.
Queen Bey announced her forthcoming country album with the release of two new songs during the Grammy Awards on Sunday (February 11). But when a fan tried to request one of the tracks, “Texas Hold ‘Em,” on an Oklahoma-based country radio station, they were denied.
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“We do not play Beyonce on KYKC as we are a country music station,” read an email in response to the fan, who then shared the interaction on Twitter/X.
Calling the refusal discrimination, the fan who goes by the handle @Jussatto wrote, “This station needs to be held accountable for their blatant racism and discrimination against Beyoncé. @1001KYKC This is absolutely ridiculous and racist. You guys should be ashamed. I grew up listening to your station. PLEASE EMAIL THE RADIO STATION TO REQUEST THE SONG.”
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When Hit-Boy saw a post about the controversy from Popbase, he took a screenshot of it and shared it to his Instagram with the caption: “TELL EM PLAY TEXAS” He then added in the comments, “Real country [fire emoji]”
Following an overwhelming response on social media, the station soon changed its tune and has since added “Texas Hold ‘Em” to their rotation.
A representative for the station issued a statement to The Shade Room.
“I think we issued just a generic reply when we should have been more detailed,” it read in part. “If someone emailed our country station and requested a Rolling Stones song we would have probably replied the same. Beyoncé is known for NOT being a country artist, so we just replied to that effect.e
“But….we are actually excited that she has ‘crossed over’ to a new genre…We are big Beyoncé fans here and really hope it does well, as we like seeing new artists get into the format.”
Just one day after the “Texas Hold ‘Em” and “16 Carriages” went live, a fan account dedicated to Beyoncé revealed that the superstar singer had won her yet another culture-shifting accolade, this time in unexplored territory.
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“Beyoncé is the FIRST black female artist to reach the top of Apple Music US Country chart in history,” they wrote. “She is also the first female black artist to occupy the first and second position on the chart simultaneously.”
This stat has been backed up by other outlets.
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The megastar announced the arrival of Renaissance: act ii in a multi-layered reveal that started with a new Super Bowl ad for Verizon. In it, Beyoncé and the network’s now iconic “Can You Hear Me Now” tech try a number of different schemes to see if the singer can “break the internet” once again.
The commercial ends with her blasting off to space as a fictional news anchor announces her plans to deliver the first live performance from the cosmos. In the last few seconds of the ad, she says: “Okay, they ready, drop the new music.”
The surprise Verizon ad had the intended effect of driving fans to her socials as they looked for additional hints about how to access Beyoncé’s latest offering.
Just moments after the ad premiered, she delivered with a Texas-themed trailer for the new project, which is set to arrive on March 29.
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Thirty minutes after sharing the trailer, she returned to Instagram to announce the release of the two new singles.
