Chris Janson Snuck a Collaboration With Rapper Offset on New ‘Real Friends’ Album
Blake Shelton isn't the only collaborator on Chris Janson's new Real Friends album. The singer hooked up with rapper Offset for a bonus version of "Say About Me," a song he already released as a solo single digitally.
Talking to Taste of Country Nights, Janson admitted he had Offset in mind from the beginning—or at least his hip-hop group Migos. "I said I wanna write a song somewhere between Hank Jr. '83 rowdiness and the Migos," he says. His collaborators were on board but Offset wasn't, yet.
The version of "Say About Me" Janson released in July does not feature Offset. This remix is new, recorded before the two got to know each other; and included as track No. 14 on the digital version of Janson's new album, available Oct. 18. A random run-in at a Shake Shack in Los Angeles led to phone numbers being exchanged and an appreciation of why each was right for the song.
"We have a lot of common kinships," Janson says. "His record is called Father of 4 and we both have four kids apiece. We're both very family-oriented people. It just made a lot of sense when we met.
"And when we were talking he was like, 'Now seeing you dude, I totally get it,'" Janson remembered. "We just come from two different backgrounds, but we also come from a similar background in that we don't come from a whole lot. We had to build our careers from the ground up. We worked really hard for that, and we're proud of that. Just being around the guy for five minutes, I could tell he's a real hustler."
"Good Vibes" is Janson's current Top 5 single, and he says his next radio choice will be a song called "Done." Shelton appears with Janson on the album's title track.
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