“Try That In A Small Town” is currently the most-discussed song around. Sitting at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, the song is by far the biggest hit of singer Jason Aldean’s career. However, the song has proven controversial as it has faced accusations of promoting racist ideals as well as advocating for the idea of vigilante justice. Meanwhile, Jason Aldean has lamented that he has become the victim of “cancel culture”. This is despite, again, his song being literally #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
However, Joe Budden doesn’t see the problems others have expressed about the song. “I don’t see a bunch of Black people burnin’ up flags — that’s some white people shit,” Budden said on his podcast. “Do I think that dude could be on bullshit? Yes. I do. Let me be clear. I do think that.” He continued: “The emotional outrage? I’m over it. If he’s not saying n-gger, or killing some Black people in the video, then them n-ggas can do what the fuck they want to in their small town. Because they’re going to always frame it as, ‘I’m speaking from the perspective of the small town over here.’”
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What Are Dog Whistles?
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The problem with Budden’s take is that it’s exactly what people like Aldean want people to say. “Try That In A Small Town” employs a rhetorical device known as a dog whistle to convey its message. Dog whistles are coded messages that sound innocuous but hold a specific meaning to certain groups of people. However, because the message isn’t said explicitly and is instead expressed sub-textually, it gives the speaker a level of plausible deniability. Because yes, Aldean’s song doesn’t explicitly say the n-word or have a lyric talking about lynching people. However, it still alludes to these concepts. A large portion of the “video “Try That In A Small Town” video is shot in front of the Maury County Courthouse in Columbia, Tennessee. It’s an innocuous location that has been used as a filming location for many projects.
However, it is also the location of several prominent lynchings. It was also a focal point of the 1946 Columbia Race Riots. The video also contains newspaper clippings of a white man being run out of town for objecting to anti-Black policies. Meanwhile, the lyrics allude to a form of vigilante justice that was, and still is, weaponized against Black individuals in the American South. Sundown towns are still very much a thing in parts of America. Furthermore, in interviews, Aldean has alluded to things such as the BLM protests of 2020, which appear in the video as part of news reels. However, several sections of that “news footage” is actually stock footage shot outside the United States. In short, “it isn’t explicitly racist” doesn’t mean something is not racist.
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