Cowboy Troy Bucks Country

Fifteen years ago, Troy Coleman jumped onstage at a Dallas nightclub to help the house band recite Vanilla Ice's white-boy hip-hop hit "Ice Ice Baby." It might have been the most ironic career beginning in music history. Like Vanilla Ice, the thirty-four-year-old Coleman -- now called Cowboy Troy -- challenges racial stereotypes. But he's doing it in an even more unexpected fashion: as a black MC seeking country chart success with the "hick-hop" of his upcoming debut, Loco Motive.

Unlike Vanilla Ice, who ran into trouble when his gangsta tales were revealed as fiction, Troy says his own cowboy persona is 100 percent authentic.

"People I know have said, 'Man, you might wanna change your look, get rid of the cowboy hat and the big ol' belt buckle,'" Troy says. "And I say, 'Nah, I'm gonna wear it, because that's what I'm comfortable in.'"

A protege of boundary-stretching country duo Big and Rich -- he delivered the rap on their 2004 hit "Rollin' (The Ballad of Big and Rich)" -- Troy enlisted the pair, as well as several members of their "Muzik Mafia," to appear on Loco Motive, due May 17th on Warner Bros. Nashville.

The album includes rock-rapping twang like the first single, "I Play Chicken With the Train," and "Beast on the Mic." Meanwhile, the plea for global unity, "Wrap Around the World," features Troy rhyming in several languages, including Mandarin Chinese. (He decided to take a class in Chinese when the WWF storyline he was following on TV "got a little dry.")

The native Texan grew up listening to a blend of Charlie Daniels, ZZ Top and Run-DMC. A psychology major at the University of Texas, Troy befriended John Rich in 1993, while Rich was the vocalist of the country band Lonestar.

"They just couldn't believe this big black cowboy was sittin' there, diggin' their music," remembers the six-foot-five-inch Troy with a laugh. And after Troy jumpstarted his own musical career with a pair of independently released efforts, Rich and his new partner Big Kenny invited him to appear on "Rollin'."

When the song took off last year, Troy had to leave his job at a Dallas Foot Locker store to tour with the duo, which was opening for Tim McGraw. Troy was such a hit, he wound up busting a few rhymes during McGraw's set as well.

For inspiration, Troy looks to Charlie Pride, country music's last major black star. "When I think of Mr. Pride, I think of a guy who just goes out and sings," he says. "He doesn't get wrapped up in politics. I leave the outspokenness to the politicians. It's my job to be an entertainer."

He admits to some uncertainty about how Loco Motive will be received: "Being such a controversial artist, I know this is my one chance in country music." But he's determined to succeed, keeping one of his striped Foot Locker jerseys with him as a reminder.

"The choice is simple," Troy says, "You do your job, or you go back to selling footwear."