Last week (July 3) Chief Keef released "Ain't Missing You," a record dedicated to Blood Money, Keef’s cousin who was murdered last April. "Ain't Missing You" is unlike anything the Chicago MC has put out, with inspiration coming from John Waite’s classic ’80s gem “Missing You (I ain´t missing you at all)." The new record is far removed from the Drill sound that Keef is known for. Even though with its somber subject matter, the new song is refreshing to hear because of its melodic nature, catching many people and publications off guard. "Ain't Missing You," which features Jenn Em on vocals and was produced by the Animaniacs, teeters the lines of country and pop music. So XXL reached out to our buddies at Taste of Country to review the track from a country music standpoint and they tell us if Keef's "Ain't Missing You" can crack country music airwaves. Read TOC's Billy Dukes review below:

Chief Keef’s “Aint’ Missing You” riffs off a John Waite song made popular by country artists on two separate occasions. The rapper samples the beat and borrows the chorus, but tells his own tale of heartache during each verse. It’s personal, it’s real and it’s haunting.

But it’s not a country song. Trade the Ferraris for F-150s, .40 cals for 40 ounces and Chief Keef’s dead cousin for a dead daughter (not a dog, that’s a stereotype) and you got something closer. Okay, it’s not quite that easy. This version won’t follow Brooks & Dunn and Waite himself (with Alison Krauss) to country radio. Music City has become more open-minded to artists from outside the genre seeping in with a song every now and then—heck Nelly has had two hits!—but if the rapper wants to cross over he’ll need to do it as a Feat. As in, So-and-So (Feat. Chief Keef).

“I was sitting at home, I was rolling a blunt/I was thinking about you been dead gone,” Keef spits after Jenn Em’s lyrical introduction. The emotionally stabbing “been dead gone” lyric is harsher to country ears than the blunt. We like our tragedies wrapped in metaphor, drowning in steel guitar and cheap whiskey. We also like a good twist, which the song offers:

“I done partied, I done sipped Bacardi/Rollin' with Blood, we done crashed all the parties/We done rode Ferraris, rode Lamborghinis/Now only thing that I can't buy is breathing.”

Like rap, country is music about the life you’re living. The heavy auto tune is one reason the song will never work on country radio, but the fact that it’s been a hit twice in the last 15 years makes it a non-starter. All that said, at Taste of Country we recognize big fish when it jumps in our boat. Keef’s scratched the kind of song that wins awards—his emotions hang on every clever rhyme before breaking away to give Jenn Em space:

“I ain't missing you at all/Since you've been gone away/I ain't missing you/No matter what our friends say.”

If “Ain’t Missing You” creeps into country circles and begins to influence the format the way hip-hop and R&B stars like Ludacris and Usher have over the last decade, we’d be better for it. A few traditionalists may spit chaw at the thought, but the smartest of us know the genre needs to change to survive.

Billy Dukes is the head writer and music critic for Taste of Country.

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