Brad Paisley and LL Cool J: great effort, horrible execution

There's much too much going on in Brad Paisley's new single "Accidental Raciest," which features LL Cool J, for it to be an attractive radio single. He should have left the song as an unreleased single on his new CD, Wheelhouse.

Aiming to explore racial undertones in a six-minute song is an incredibly difficult task. Attempting to merge rap lyrics into a country song isn't as difficult, but is still hard to pull off. Using a Confederate flag T-shirt as a vehicle to tackle and explore the racial issues that continue to run deep in this country is a weak and cheap ploy that makes people question if he fully understands the issues he is singing about. Expecting people to want to listen to songs that make them question their opinions dealing with race isn't the best idea. No one is going to call their local radio station and say, "Mr. DJ, can you play that song about how there's still a lot of racial tension in our country and how sometimes we do racial things without realizing it please? I like when I realize I'm doing something that might be unintentionally offending someone else."

Combining these elements into one song is a surefire recipe for failure.

As Paisley's single was released online Monday, blogs and Tweeters took to the internet to mock Paisley and J, calling Paisley racist and the song offensive. Some mistook his efforts as an attempt to fix racial tensions.

The song isn't offensive or meant to solve any problems. It is merely Paisley's attempt to explore some deep thoughts and to generate conversation among his audience and others.

The title of the song, "Accidental Raciest" sets up the point of the song's message: that sometimes we do things that are offensive without realizing other people find them offensive. The Confederate flag is a quick example of how one image can mean one thing to one group of people and another thing entirely to a different group.

It's important for us as a society and as individuals to realize these differences exist. What we do with this information isn't always as important as first realizing and acknowledging it exist. Some of the backlash from this song comes from those who aren't willing to accept this concept. A lot of people don't like thinking about these issues because they are complex issues without a clear right answer. Some people just don't have the ability to look at an issue from a different perspective, or know that if they do they won't like what they see through someone else's eyes. It's easier to blame everyone else than it is to do some self reflection and accept personal responsibility for our actions. Or the way our actions make others feel.

This song isn't about political correctness. Paisley isn't saying that wearing the Confederate flag is right or wrong. He's just acknowledging its heavy meaning. He also acknowledges our country's long history of racial tension and the fact that we must continue to live with the repercussions of a country found on racism and slavery.

---"I'm proud of where I'm from but not everything we've done/And it ain't like you and me can re-write history/Our generation didn't start this nation/And we're still paying for the mistakes/That a bunch of folks made long before we came/And caught between southern pride and southern blame"---

Paisley isn't pretending to have all the answers. But it's clear that he's spent time searching for them. It's this type of thinking that will lead to forward progress on race and other sensitive issues. If you don't like to think about these things, perhaps you're part of the problem, not the man forcing you to think about them.

Overall, this song is terrible. He should never have released it as a single, but left it as an unreleased track on his CD. His fans would have found it and he still could have released it online. Some of the lyrics are as horrible as everyone thinks they are and rapping and country music should almost never be mixed. His attempt at taking on such a huge issue failed, but he displayed a lot of courage in his attempt to do so.

Great idea, but failed delivery and execution.