St. Petersburg, Fla.-He gave enough booty-bouncing rhythms to last a lifetime with his 2012 smash “Up N Thru There,” kept his name bubbling with 2015 club classic “Slow Twerk Song” and racked up more than 14 million views on YouTube last year with highly energetic hit single “Twerk Tales.”
Now, Hussch Boy Productions rapper/singer Cristol brings together music lovers from all walks of life with his compelling new single “Country Twerk” featuring country music sensation Skyler Clark. In a mesmerizing mashup of three different genres, Cristol unifies twerk fans, rap fans and country music fans.
“Music is a universal language. Good music will help people forget about what’s going on at that moment, and this song is bringing two cultures together to have a good time,” says Cristol. “With so much that is going on in the world today, people need a record that makes them feel good.”
Atop a driving, mid-tempo drum track, syncopated claps and stabbing guitar strums, Cristol instructs, “Drop it slow and wind it slow/ Ride that thang like a rodeo.” Then, comes Skyler with his country crooning on the hook: “Put your hands, look back, clap your cheeks/ Ride the beat/ Hand on your knees.”
“You never heard a country artist say something like that,” Cristol contends. “Skyler brought the diversity that the record needed. People needed to see an authentic country singer. This is the first time that he ever did something like this.”
Complete with its own choreographed line dance and vivid music video, this feel-good summer anthem is the best of both worlds. “The first thing that people say when they see the video is the unity. You got real people in the video. It’s not fake,” Cristol explains. “It’s real country white folk and real hood black folk with gold teeth and dreadlocks. These people are from the hood, singing the same way that the country music fans are singing.”
“Country Twerk” is the lead single from Cristol’s forthcoming project tentatively titled Billboard Music, set for release later this year.
“I feel like I’m one of the few artists in the world that can have the top 10 songs on Billboard at the same time,” says Cristol.
Born Herman Grant and raised in St. Petersburg, Fla., Cristol first grabbed regional attention with his DJ Trans-produced debut single “Whatcha Drinkn On” featuring Strizzo and Sojo and first LP My Story in 2005 and returned in 2007 another banger “My Pockets Swoll” featuring Baton Rouge bad boy Lil Boosie.
Within weeks of its release, the song was featured on mixtapes all over the world. That year, Cristol was MySpace’s number one hip hop artist in Florida and number 30 in the nation.
His momentum continued to pick up when he was chosen to produce and feature on the official team song for the Tampa Bay Rays. “It’s Our Season” features Cristol and fellow Florida rappers Big Gill and Bay Boy. With the Rays being Number 1 in 2008, it quickly led Cristol to being the center of the media’s attention. Over the years, Cristol kept his name bubbling with back-to-back mixtapes Famous & Broke 1 and 1.5 as well as a slew of club singles, including “Ass So Phat,” “Sundress” and “Swag So Mean.”
Cristol continues to keep the momentum going with a brand new sound in “Country Twerk Music.” In a bold musical move, he is doing something that has never been done before.
“I want to be the first person to give the world a country twerk record because there has never been a country twerk song ever made before,” says Cristol. “By making this record, I am unifying people. It doesn’t matter if you’re from the hood, from the country, if you’re old, young, middle aged, black or white, everyone just wants to come together and have a good time.”
He continues, “I’m a Florida boy. I grew up to club music. My gift is the ability to speak the language of the people, make music that they can relate to and at the same time, make them dance.”