William Curtis Harness Jr. (born May 31, 1980), professionally known as Struggle Jennings, is an American rapper from

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

. Jennings was one of the original members of

Yelawolf Michael Wayne Atha (born December 30, 1979), better known by his stage name Yelawolf, is an American rapper. Born in Gadsden, Alabama, and raised in Antioch, Tennessee, he embarked on his recording career in 2005, releasing four mixtapes to pos ...

's Slumerican label roster along with

Bubba Sparxxx Warren Anderson Mathis (born March 6, 1977), better known by his stage name Bubba Sparxxx, is an American rapper. His 2001 single, " Ugly" (featuring Timbaland) peaked at number 15 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and led him to sign with Timbaland ...

Career

Harness was born to William Harness Sr and Jennifer Eddy, the daughter of

Duane Eddy Duane Eddy (April 26, 1938 – April 30, 2024) was an American guitarist. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, he had a string of hit records produced by Lee Hazlewood which were noted for their characteristically "twangy" guitar sound, including ...

and

Jessi Colter Mirriam Johnson (born May 25, 1943), known professionally as Jessi Colter, is an American country singer who is best known for her collaborations with her second husband, country musician Waylon Jennings, and for her 1975 crossover hit " I'm Not ...

. Harness Sr. was murdered in 1990. Harness Jr. spent much of his childhood in the company of his grandmother's second husband,

Waylon Jennings Waylon Arnold Jennings (June 15, 1937 – February 13, 2002) was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. He is considered one of the pioneers of the Outlaw country, outlaw movement in country music. Jennings started playing ...

, whose surname he took as his stage name. His uncle is country rock singer

Shooter Jennings Waylon Albright "Shooter" Jennings (born May 19, 1979) is an American musician and Grammy award winning record producer. He is the son of country singers Waylon Jennings and Jessi Colter. In a career spanning three decades, Jennings has explore ...

, who is only one year older. Harness started his music career around 2002. He began by selling

mixtape In the modern music industry, a mixtape is a musical project, typically with looser constraints than that of an album or extended play. Unlike the traditional album or extended play, mixtapes are labeled as laid-back projects that allow artists mo ...

s out of his car and on the streets. It is unknown how many mixtapes Harness released in his career, but his oldest known mixtape is ''Strugglin' Til We Make It'', which he released with Wyteboy Slim in 2003. In 2005, Harness appeared on Jelly Roll's mixtape ''The Halfway House''. Harness also released his mixtape ''Tryin 2 Eat'' in 2005 and his mixtape ''Soundtrack To An Indictment'' in 2009. Harness was incarcerated on drug-related charges in 2011. In 2013, Harness appeared on

's mixtape ''Wyte Dawg'' and released his nine-track album ''I Am Struggle''. After being released from prison in 2016, Harness released ''Return of the Outlaw'' EP via Slumerican. From 2017 to 2018, he collaborated with longtime friend and rapper

JellyRoll Jason Bradley DeFord (born December 4, 1984), known professionally as Jelly Roll (originally stylized as JellyRoll), is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. Beginning his music career in 2003, he rose to mainstream prominence following ...

on a trilogy of ''Waylon & Willie'' albums, the title of which pays homage to

and

Willie Nelson Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American singer, guitarist, songwriter, actor and activist. He was one of the main figures of the outlaw country subgenre that developed in the late 1960s as a reaction to the conservative restr ...

. Struggle and his mother, Jenni Eddy Jennings, created their ''Spiritual Warfare'' EP towards the end of 2018. On January 15, 2019, Struggle and his oldest daughter, singer Brianna Harness, released a collaborative EP entitled ''Sunny Days'' which snagged the #3 spot on ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' Blues Albums charts. In February 2019, he also released his first solo studio album since 2011 via his own label called "Angels & Outlaws" formed that same year. The LP titled ''The Widow's Son'' included guest appearances by

, Jeremy Penick, Julie Roberts, Alexander King and Yelawolf. On November 15, 2019, Jennings released the full-length album entitled ''Angels & Outlaws'' featuring 11 tracks in collaboration with his guitarist Trap DeVille and his daughter and music newcomer, Brianna Harness. The album peaked at #8 on iTunes Alternative charts. In June 2020, Jennings teamed up with Adam Calhoun for the EP "Legends" and in December 2020, fans were surprised by the long anticipated release of "Waylon & Willie IV", the fourth record in the collaboration series between Struggle and his fellow Nashville native, Jelly Roll. On April 9, 2021, Jennings released a solo LP entitled "Troubadour of Troubled Souls" and on April 30, 2021, he released a second collaboration LP with Illinois rapper Adam Calhoun, entitled "Outlaw Shit" which gained notoriety through iTunes Rap Charts by claiming the #1 spot on release day. In 2021, Jennings can be found touring and working with artists Brianna Harness and Caitlynne Curtis to advance their independent careers via his label "Angels & Outlaws" based in Nashville. In September 2021, Jennings and heavy metal vocalist

Tommy Vext Thomas Cummings (born April 15, 1982), better known under the stage name Tommy Vext, is an American heavy metal singer known as the former lead vocalist of Bad Wolves, Divine Heresy, Snot and Westfield Massacre. He has also released several s ...

announced a co-headlining tour "The God Bless the Outlaws" across the United States. In 2022, Jennings collaborated with independent rapper Tom MacDonald and Nova Rockafeller for a feature on "In God We Trust", off of Tom Macdonald's "The Brave" album. In the last episode of ''The Grand Tour'' " One for the Road",

Jeremy Clarkson Jeremy Charles Robert Clarkson (born 11 April 1960) is an English television presenter, journalist, farmer, and author who specialises in Driving, motoring. He is best known for hosting the television programmes ''Top Gear (2002 TV series), T ...

plays "Monte Carlo" as the theme song for his

Lancia Montecarlo The Lancia Montecarlo (Type 137) is a Pininfarina-designed two-seater, MR layout, mid-engined sports car manufactured and marketed by Lancia in Italy for model years 1975-1981, across two series. The first series (1975-1978) were marketed as the ...

Discography

Studio albums

Mixtapes

Extended plays

Certified songs

Guest appearances

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jennings, Struggle Living people Country rappers Musicians from Nashville, Tennessee 1980 births