Jennings‘ newest record Monte Carlo, out Friday, shows the musician in a new light as he opens up about his dark past and journey to finding light. I had just closed on our new house that I bought for my kids. A bottle of tequila and a whole bunch of reflecting, really thinking about how I want my kids to remember me. However, he’s an artist in his own right, with one hell of a story to tell. In 2022, Jennings collaborated with independent rapper Tom MacDonald and Nova Rockafeller for a feature on „In God We Trust“, off of Tom Macdonald’s „The Brave“ album.

• He is the grandson of country musician Jessi Colter, the step-grandson of Waylon Jennings, and the nephew of Shooter Jennings, from whom Harness adopted his stage name.
• Last time I was locked up I filled whole notepads with songs and I never recorded a single verse.
• Struggle’s lyrics commonly touch on criminal activity; a world he knows of first hand, having been indicted on federal drug trafficking charges and served time.
• From punk rock to trap beat flows, you never know what he may deliver.

Struggle Jennings on Grandpa Waylon Jennings‘ Legacy and Return to Music After a Prison Sentence (Exclusive)

As anyone who writes about music online will tell you, these sorts of correspondences are not an uncommon aspect of the profession, but I was nonetheless taken aback by the confusing nature of his very specific request. While most musicians simply send out mass email blasts hoping to garner blog coverage in any form they can attain it, this particular rapper was requesting that I write an in-depth profile on him simply because one of his songs had been posted on R.A. Right after Jennings got out of prison in 2016, he and Jelly Roll got into the studio together and began cutting tracks for what would ultimately become the first volume of their Waylon & Willie series. Friends for decades, their mutual backgrounds and mutual search for balance in life forged an unbreakable bond. Even though Jennings was pursuing music, he now realizes that he was still on a bad track.

About Struggle Jennings

We gotta tear down that black curtain that blinds them from seeing clearly. „The quote that Waylon had was like, ‚Don’t stand in my shadow, find your own light.‘ And that’s something that I’ve tried to do,“ he says. „[But I’m] paying homage to the man. My dad was murdered when I was 10, and Waylon stepped up and was a father figure in my life. He was the only real male role model I had besides my uncle on my dad’s side that ended up getting custody of me when I was young.“ While he has countless accomplishments on his own — like five Grammys and several No. 1 hits — he’s also notable for what he’s done for others. Through his label Young Money, Wayne introduced the world to two rap icons, Drake and Nicki Minaj, which he’s collaborated with time and time again.

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From teaming up with numerous artists like 2 Chainz, Ciara, will.i.am, Mario and others, Weezy’s bars still show that he’s the best. It didn’t take long before the teen forced the entire world to “Crank Dat.” He quickly became the face of party music by creating a sound that brought his listeners joy and influenced other artists. His songs can be found on streaming platforms, and a physical copy of his album is available for purchase on Urbane Muse’s website. When he’s not chasing the bag, he’s spending his time being a dad. His daughter Shai not only looks exactly like him, but she carries just as much talent.

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The two performed their top hits and gave the crowd an intense feeling of nostalgia. Probably the youngest to ever do it, Lil Bow Wow hit the scene in 1993 at the ripe age of 6 and was immediately recognized by Hollywood greats like Snoop Dogg and Jermaine Dupri. He even appeared on the Arsenio Hall show to broadcast his talent to the world during his come-up. Wanda Durant has always wanted her son to be more open to dispel some of the criticism he receives, but she is “more than proud” of the man he’s become. Once Kevin Durant and his brother reached a point of wanting to run their business without their mom, a move she admitted “devastated” her, Wanda Durant said she began working on herself.

Off The Record Live: Struggle Jennings Talks Rap Roots, Grandpa Waylon, ‘Troubadour of Troubled Souls’ and More

A lot of times, I’ll pull in the instruments I love like the steel guitar, fiddle, or something with a lot of emotion in it to convey the emotion of what I’m saying. [laughs] I don’t even know what that word means anymore. Ultimately he’d serve less than half that time, but it was time well-served, if you judge the process by the results. „I struggle rapper had completely no control. My kids ended up in foster care, mother of my children overdosed and passed away. I realized there was nothing I could do to control what was happening on the outside. All I could do was control how I came out and who I was. And I was over it.“ Plus, the rapper is still pouring into others and working on his craft.

Rapper Struggle Jennings Shoots Music Video Behind Prison Walls

With powerful lyrics addressing everything from depression to addiction to suicide to finding hope, the two men lay bare their souls, all for the purpose of establishing a holistic source of strength and understanding. Both Jennings and Jelly Roll confess that being so candid on record has been scary at times, but, ultimately, the reaction from the community has been so overwhelmingly positive that they can never go back to the way it was before. Through his music, he’s able to share personal and vulnerable experiences, records that help himself as much as it helps listeners. This transformation came about a decade ago, when Jennings (real name William Harness) was at the Northeast Correctional Complex in Mountain City, Tenn. He was looking at 13 years in prison after being arrested on — as he’d later tell All Hip Hop — charges of conspiracy for very large quantities of cocaine and marijuana.

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• If there’s one thing that must be true for someone to fit the bill of the prototypical struggle rapper, it’s that they can never find success.
• Ultimately he’d serve less than half that time, but it was time well-served, if you judge the process by the results.
• In June 2020, Jennings teamed up with Adam Calhoun for the EP „Legends“ and in December 2020, fans were surprised by the long anticipated release of „Waylon & Willie IV“, the fourth record in the collaboration series between Struggle and his fellow Nashville native, Jelly Roll.
• I’ve got thousands of people writing me letters and posting comments.
• The record — named after the nostalgia that his ’84 Monte Carlo brings him — has a touch of the ’80s, hip-hop and rap, though this is the first time that Jennings ventures into country music.