Everybody wants to be a cowboy now.
Cowboy core — the Western aesthetic that prioritizes travel experiences in places like Montana, Wyoming, and Utah, where guests can participate in horseback riding, mountain climbing, and birdwatching — was the biggest trend in travel for 2025. Cowboys boots have become commonplace in luxury fashion. “Yellowstone” is one of the most valuable franchises on the silver screen. And country music is surpassing rap in audio streams. Every industry is trying to cash in on the new gold rush of country’s revival in the mainstream.
But, what about those who were country before it was trendy? What about the generations of Black farmers and ranchers whose lands were seized from them by eminent domain? What about the Black rodeos that provide a platform for Black cowboys and cowgirls to showcase their talents? Where are their forty acres and a mule? Are they not deserving of the same spotlight afforded to their white counterparts, who have been seen as stewards of the genre and lifestyle?
“High Horse: The Black Cowboy,” the new docuseries produced by Jordan Peele now streaming on Peacock, attempts to answer those questions and more. The 3-episode season starts with a critique of the American cowboy myth, transitions to the historical and ongoing attacks against Black land ownership and ends on the reclamation of cowboy culture by Black Americans.
There are obvious mentions of “Cowboy Carter,” Beyoncé’s award-winning album that ignited conversations about Black women in country music. Tina Knowles, Beyonce’s mother, is one of the many Black academics, cowboys, farmers, ranchers, journalists, and industry professionals featured in the project. In episode three, she recalls a harrowing experience at the Kentucky Derby, where she was racially mistreated by an employee at the horse race.
Knowles’ sentiments are echoed by Courtney and Nicole Mallery, a rancher couple that were subjected to racial discrimination, by their neighbors in Colorado. And the Alexander family, who are fighting the Texas Department of Transportation to protect their family farm from being taken over by the state for a highway expansion project.
The Black cowboy, who the docuseries positions as a proxy for Black people, is the focal point for the Jason Perez-directed visual. In an interview with the Texas Standard, Perez spoke highly about Bun B’s involvement in the series. The prolific rapper, who was one-half of southern rap duo UGK, makes his debut in episode one, titled “F*ck Westerns,” a 40-minute episode that details the erasure of Black cowboys in popular culture. The episode shows that erasure was an intentional move that facilitated the growth and development of the American cowboy myth in the United States and the world.
It was in Port Arthur, about 25 miles from the Louisiana border, that Bun B was introduced to the country lifestyle. Though he calls Houston home, Bun’s family ties have been in Trill City for years. His family settled in the small Southeast Texas town after they moved away from Louisiana. He told The Barbed Wire that their way of life gave him an amazing perspective on Black cowboy culture — an ideology that he brings to life every year at the Houston Livestock and Rodeo. Although his first performance at the sporting event was in 2007, Bun B’s takeover of the festival started a few years ago in 2022. Since then, he has transformed the rodeo into a celebration of Black western country with performances from some of the biggest names out of Texas and the South.
“People are coming to the Rodeo to learn. There are many different points of interaction. The rodeo has consciously made an effort to diversify itself on the stage in the same way they’ve diversified the stands, and they’re not shying away from that,” he said. “Black Heritage Day will always be available for different representations of Black music, Black culture, and Black country western to be seen, heard, and appreciated.”
As a child, he never saw anyone that looked like him on the rodeo stage. The same goes for presence on the radio. It felt impossible. Now, his hope for others to stand on the “shoulders of greatness we stand on,” and continue to work to educate others about the Black country experience.
Bun B described the modern day Black Cowboy in two ways: First, by showing up as unapologetically Black, especially in spaces that were previously unwelcoming. He said it’s important to have the confidence to not only go into that space, but to thrive and prosper. Second, be as Black as you feel you need to be without being a caricature of yourself.
Authenticity is a central theme of “High Horse.” The real life stories from Black jockeys and equestrian professionals — about their fight to be seen and recognized as equal, if not better than their white counterparts — follows the Black colloquial saying about being twice as good to get half as much. But the docuseries attempts to rectify that gap through the medium of popular culture.
If television and film are one reason why cowboys are seen as white, why not use streaming to combat the erasure? Why not give audiences different representations of Black cowboys and cowgirls to see in real time? In a sense, it is an act of defiance.
Because pop culture would be nothing without the cultural productions of Southern Black culture, particularly Black Texan culture. Look no further than Bun B, though he and Pimp C of UGK had to combat the idea that hip hop only came out of New York.
“When we were in our earlier days, one of Chad’s monikers was J.R. Ewing and I was Bobby,” said Bun B in an interview with The Barbed Wire. “That was our way of saying that we know. We get it too.”
For all the setting-straight that “High Horse” accomplishes by painting an accurate and elaborate portrait of Black America, there’s an ironic undertone. Country was once used as a pejorative term to shame Black Texans. Now everybody wants to be like us.
Ain’t that ‘bout a bitch.