calling out bad mainstream country rap<\/a><\/strong>, or as he calls it, arena rap. Struggle Jennings is one of those rappers in Yelawolf\u2019s fold. He was signed to Yela\u2019s Slumerican label previously. <\/p>But that\u2019s probably not why you know about Struggle Jennings if you\u2019re a country fan. You know about Struggle because of his last name, and familial affiliation with Waylon. Technically, Struggle\u2014whose real name is William Curtis Harness Jr.\u2014is not blood related to Waylon Jennings. His mother is Jennifer Eddy, who was the daughter of legendary guitarist Duane Eddy, and Waylon\u2019s second wife Jessi Colter, born before Colter left Duane for Waylon. <\/p>
In fairness, Struggle\u2019s father William Harness Sr. was murdered when he was young, and Struggle spent significant time with Waylon growing up, with Struggle basically adopting Waylon as his grandfather. Shooter Jennings is Struggle\u2019s uncle, even though Shooter\u2019s only a year older. When Struggle Jennings started his country rap career selling mixtapes out of his trunk, he adopted the Jennings name. So that\u2019s the official story of Struggle\u2019s Last Name<\/em>. <\/p>The story of his new album is that it\u2019s not really hip-hop at all. In fact, this album seems to have significantly less to do with Struggle hanging out in the orbit of Yelawolf and hip-hop, and more about hanging in the orbit of Jelly Roll and contemporary Christian music. Struggle and Jelly have released four studio albums together in what are blasphemously called their Waylon & Willie<\/em> series\u2014at least they\u2019re blasphemy for many traditional country fans. The two have also recorded multiple big singles together. <\/p>And now seeming to follow Jelly Roll\u2019s lead, Struggle Jennings has put his partying and rapping days behind him, and is selling the public on a redemption arc and praise music. Basically, Last Name<\/em> feels very much like a Jelly Roll 2.0 album. You can\u2019t blame Struggle for following Jelly Roll\u2019s path. After all, it\u2019s earned Jelly Roll arena level status, as well as a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Country Album. <\/p>Granted, the Struggle Jennings version of this kind of music does feel somewhat superior. Again, it\u2019s important to try and draw distinctions in these things, if you\u2019re trying to be objective. Where Jelly Roll\u2019s Beautifully Broken<\/em> felt extremely \u201cone note\u201d in its lyrical themes and even sonic approach while falsely peddling itself as \u201ccountry,\u201d Struggle offers a bit more variety, even if only a marginal level of more depth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nThe songs all come with two to four co-writers, and it still smacks of commercial product with mainstream production. But a song like \u201cHowling at the Moon\u201d about being falsely accused of bad behavior to the point of saying, \u201cWell, if I\u2019ve going to be accused of it, I might as well do it\u201d is something you just wouldn\u2019t hear from Jelly Roll these days. But you also get those religious songs wrapped around \u201cI\u2019m a broken sinner\u201d confessional themes like the tracks \u201cFolded Hands,\u201d \u201cStorm I Can\u2019t Weather,\u201d and \u201cBroken People.\u201d <\/p>
But where Jelly Roll still bests Struggle is that Jelly Roll actually is a pretty good singer, and always has been. That\u2019s how he was able to make the transition from the underground rap scene in Nashville to the mainstream country circuit. Meanwhile Struggle\u2019s voice is thrashed at this point. He might have never been a great singer. But a few decades of hard living\u2014including going to prison from 2011 to 2016, and serving 15 months in prison after being arrested when he was 21\u2014have not been kind to Struggle\u2019s pipes.<\/p>
Jelly Roll\u2019s voice was ready for the mainstream whenever he wanted to make that move. For Struggle Jennings, his country rap audience finds his rasp real and authentic, but mainstream fans will find it a turn off. There couldn\u2019t be more contrast between Jelly Roll and Struggle than when you listen to their duet on the album, \u201cOnly God Knows.\u201d This is also probably the reason that here over a month after the release, you really haven\u2019t heard much about Last Name<\/em>, despite the Jelly Roll affiliation, or the Jennings name recognition. <\/p>If this review feels more of a biography, it\u2019s because this information might be just as important as the music of Last Name<\/em>. The title track is all about the blessing and curse that a famous name bequeaths to multi-generational performers, both in how they\u2019re perceived in the public, and how they tend to wrestle with the same demons as their predecessors. But with Struggle Jennings, he selectively chose his stage name, so it just doesn\u2019t pack the punch this sentiment might have for Shooter, Hank3, or Justin Townes Earle. <\/p>Love or hate Struggle Jennings or this album specifically, he is part of the extended family of Waylon Jennings and country music through his real grandfather Duane Eddy. He\u2019s definitely also wrestled with demons on a level neither of those men did. Just like Jelly Roll, it\u2019s not fair to doubt their redemption story, or how they\u2019ve used faith to turn their lives around. But ultimately, the music is just not very good, and certainly not country, even though you do want to give Struggle credit for being better than many of the other artists and albums in this \u201cpost country rap contemporary Christian-adjacent mainstream country\u201d space. <\/p>
It feels like the public is starting to heavily sour on Jelly Roll and his media-driven narrative story. Unfortunately for Struggle Jennings and Last Name<\/em>, there\u2019s probably just not the appetite for another performer to use this model to rise out of the underground, and into the mainstream. <\/p>If you want a Jennings who is using his faith and redemption story to make music that is actually country, Waylon nephew Whey Jennings has also just released an album, Baptized By Fire<\/em>. <\/p>5\/10 <\/strong><\/p>\u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013<\/p>\n\n\n\n