Singles “Southern Comfort Zone” and “Beat This Summer” were the intended promotional items for Brad Paisley’s new album “Wheelhouse,” but a different track has been consuming the media’s attention.
“Accidental Racist,” that track, found itself in a firestorm of controversy when fans and journalists called it tone-deaf, “horrible” and even “racist.”
Tied to a personal experience, in which Paisley was mistakenly dubbed a racist for wearing a shirt with the Confederate Flag, the song attempts to explore how a person’s superficial qualities can result in a damming characterization. Southerners who wear the Confederate flag or embrace their geographical roots risk being associated with the horrific, racist acts of the region’s past.
But Paisley’s intent is not to blame those who perpetuate the mistaken association but instead connect with them on a more personal level, achieving an understanding that goes beyond the surface.
And then comes the LL Cool J rap and spoken-word verse, which has generated the most aggressive of criticism. Detractors argue that the the lyrics, some of which are based on attempted equivalences between innocuous items associated with black culture and historical symbols of bigotry, trivialize significant historical pain points in an attempt to provide a non-white perspective on the song.
The widely-panned lyrics include “If you don’t judge my do-rag/I won’t judge your red flag” and “If you don’t judge my gold chains/I’ll forget the iron chains.”
“It’s one of those songs that teaches people about themselves,” the rapper explains in an interview with USA Today. “If you listen to it and you find yourself getting irritated, that means there’s some things you’ve got to address. If you listen to it and you find yourself understanding it and relating to it, then that’s something you probably should express.”
Paisley, who recalled the personal experience involving his T-shirt in the same USA Today interview, adds in a statement to EW, “This isn’t a stunt. This isn’t something that I just came up with just to be sort of shocking or anything like that. I knew it would be, but I’m sort of doing it in spite of that, really.
“I’m doing it because it just feels more relevant than it even did a few years ago. I think that we’re going through an adolescence in America when it comes to race. You know, it’s like we’re almost grown up. You have these little moments as a country where it’s like, ‘Wow things are getting better.’ And then you have one where it’s like, ‘Wow, no they’re not.’”
Paisley specifically stands by the controversial “doo rag” lyric, noting, “How do I show my Southern pride? What is offensive to you? And he kind of replies, and his summation is really that whole let’s bygones be bygones and ‘If you don’t judge my do rag, I won’t judge your red flag.’ We don’t solve anything, but it’s two guys that believe in who they are and where they’re from very honestly having a conversation and trying to reconcile.”
“Wheelhouse,” the album featuring “Accidental Racist,” hit shelves on April 9.