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Kane Brown has opened up about the racism and personal trauma he's endured throughout his life and career, revealing the challenges he's faced as a Black artist in country music.
Speaking on the Impaulsive podcast with Logan Paul, Brown shared that early in his career, certain songwriters refused to work with him because of his race. "I won't say his name because I don't want to throw him under the bus," Brown said. "But there was one writer that said he wouldn't write with me because I was Black. I confronted him about it and he tried to apologize to me at a bar."
Unfortunately, this was not an isolated incident. "There's another big writer that has like 30 No. 1s that said the same thing," Brown explained. "Then he apologized whenever we blew up and was trying to write with me and I said no." These encounters occurred during what Brown described as his "Facebook days," a time when he was building a name for himself by posting song covers online and few in the industry took him seriously.
Despite the discrimination, Brown remained steadfast and pursued his career independently, eventually crowdfunding his debut EP in 2015 before signing with RCA Nashville. He has since released multiple hit songs and is currently touring with his latest album, The High Road, which came out in January.
Brown has long spoken out about racial challenges in the genre. In a 2022 interview with CBS News, he said, "I shouldn't have to say anything, you know? I'm up there in front of everybody as a Black artist. I'm selling out arenas. I'm on the radio. I'm doing all this stuff. Right there should tell you that, you know country music's getting better. And people should be opening up."
In another 2022 conversation with The New York Times, Brown recalled being mistaken for fellow Black country artist Jimmie Allen. "Even today, I walked in somewhere and they were like, 'Oh, my God, you did so good on *Dancing With the Stars.' I'm like, 'That wasn't me; that was Jimmie Allen. That's the other Black guy.'"
Brown has also shared painful details from his childhood. Previously he has described abuse by his stepfathers, including being forced to eat a pack of cigarettes, having his head shaved and enduring physical punishments. He says these challenges made him strong and who he is today.
