Is the leftist outrage over Jason Aldean’s “Try That in a Small Town” absurd given the lyrics of the rap songs such people often promote, or at least listen to? Joe Rogan thinks so. He said as much during a recent episode of the “Joe Rogan Experience,” telling his guest Gad Saad that the outrage over the song is absurd because of the content of rap songs.
“I’m not saying that’s the greatest song the world has ever known, but the level of outrage coming from people that are upset about that song is so strange when there are hundreds of rap songs out there that are infinitely worse,” Rogan said.
Responding to Rogan, who said that rap songs can still be “enjoyable” even if the content is degenerate, Saad said that the lyrics of many rap songs, even the more popular and mainstream ones, both promote misogyny and glorify violence.
Rogan agreed with him, Rogan noted how strange it is for the critics of “Try That in a Small Town” to focus on it given the rest of the trash out there, saying, “Mhmm, no complaints at all. And we’re not even talking about old stuff, there’s new stuff too, there’s hip-hop, there’s wild rock songs, there’s a lot of wild s–t.”
Continuing, Rogan added that the attempts to paint the song in a racial light were crazy given that Antifa, which is mainly composed of white people, was deeply involved in the chaos of the 2020 riots about which Aldean sings in the song.
“The racial aspect of it was crazy, because the real Antifa problems that were happening during the BLM, I think there was a lot of White people doing that wasn’t it? It was a lot of lost liberal Whites who are very angry, who decided to take up this movement and smash things,” he said. Emphasizing that point, Rogan added, “So the racial aspect of it, there’s nothing racial about the lyrics.”
Watch Rogan talk about the issue here:
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Joe Rogan Pushes Back on the Jason Aldean Critics
"The level of outrage coming from people that are upset about that song is so strange when there are hundreds of rap songs out there that are infinitely worse, and also enjoyable…and no complaints at all"@joerogan… pic.twitter.com/GZHOZNHjcU
— Chief Nerd (@TheChiefNerd) July 26, 2023
Rogan is right in that the lyrics of “Try That in a Small Town” don’t once mention race. The most famous part of the song so far, the opening, notes crimes Antifa, BLM, and the criminal denizens of big cities are known for, though it doesn’t describe those committing such horrific crimes:
Sucker punch somebody on a sidewalk
Carjack an old lady at a red light
Pull a gun on the owner of a liquor store
Ya think it’s cool, well, act a fool if ya likeCuss out a cop, spit in his face
Stomp on the flag and light it up
Yeah, ya think you’re toughWell, try that in a small town
See how far ya make it down the road
Around here, we take care of our own
You cross that line, it won’t take long
For you to find out, I recommend you don’t
Try that in a small town
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video