Brad Paisley and LL Cool J are collaborating — no punch line required.

First off, why are these two guys making music together?

Paisley, a white country music star, and LL Cool J, a black rapper, made a song together entitled “Accidental Racist.”

Don’t get me wrong, I understand what they’re trying to do. It’s an “opposites attract” kind of collaboration, an ebony and ivory-type scenario. Mixing two music genres that would never go together in an attempt to bridge the racial gap.

Well in this case, they failed.

For those who haven’t heard the song, Paisley plays the role of the traditional Southern white male, while LL Cool J plays the antithesis of the Southern white male, a black New York rapper.

Lyrics include such poetry as “I’m proud of where I’m from, but not everything we’ve done,” and “If you don’t judge the gold chains, I’ll forget the iron chains.”

Paisley is apologizing for slavery on behalf of whites, and LL is forgiving slavery on behalf of blacks — as if either of these guys was around during the slave era or is any way responsible.

Paisley, you didn’t enslave anyone. LL, you were never a slave. Moving on.

These guys are not racists. They’re far from racists. They like each other and make music together. Racists wouldn’t do that.

However, I think they might have done more harm than good.

Let’s be honest, it doesn’t get more stereotypically Southern than Brad Paisley. And even though LL’s been rich for a long time, he still pretends to be gangster.

So the final product ends up being a reinforcement of negative stereotypes not only for African-Americans but also for white Southerners.

Not every black guy is a rapper. And not every white guy is a confederate flag-loving, bandana-wearing country star. So when you put the two together and pretend they are, it makes regular white and black guys look bad.

Somewhere in this world, there exist normal ass white guys and normal ass black guys who are just friends. They go to Subway together, split a $5 footlong, jive to The Cranberries and couldn’t care less about race.

What I’m trying to say is, we don’t have to go to such extreme stereotypes to show that whites and blacks are capable of getting along. Because it happens everyday.

But when people do resort to such extreme stereotypes, what ends up happening is this: A significant portion of Brad Paisley’s fans, who may have little to no interaction with African-Americans, will forever associate LL Cool J’s image as the image of black men.

If Paisley did a spot on LL’s next album, the same might be true for rap fans thinking every white guy acts like Brad Paisley.

This isn’t the worst thing in the world. It’s not a good song, that’s for sure, but it’s not exactly going to spark the next Rodney King riots.

Good intentions, gentlemen. Work on the execution, and more importantly, the music.

Parker Cramer is a 22-year-old political science senior from Houston.