#LilNasXs #OldTownRoad #CountryMusic #BillboardHot100
Do Billboard's country music charts have a race problem?
That's what some people are alleging after the Billboard charts disqualified Lil Nas X's song "Old Town Road" from the country charts for "not embracing enough elements of today’s country music." And in 2019, when the industry is supposed to be rewarding forward-thinking artists pushing their genres forward, the charts body's choice to police an arbitrary definition of country music at the expense of the rising artist is woefully misguided.
The song, which rose to No. 32 on this week's Billboard Hot 100, is twangier than anything you’ll hear on rap radio, mixing banjos and trap beats as Lil Nas X raps about horses and cowboys before name-dropping Gucci and Porsches. Considering how Bebe Rexha and Florida Georgia Line’s country-EDM hybrid “Meant to Be” ruled the country charts last year, “Old Town Road” seemed like another potential hit that could mash up genres and find country music success.
But Billboard disagreed, with the charts’ decision-makers angering fans across the internet this week by disqualifying the song, with a spokesperson telling Rolling Stone,"While 'Old Town Road' incorporates references to country and cowboy imagery, it does not embrace enough elements of today’s country music to chart in its current version."
Fans supported Lil Nas X on social media, with his fellow rapper Ski Mask tha Slump God calling Billboard’s move “discrimination at its finest,” and country singer Meghan Linsey tweeting, “That is some BS. It’s got plenty of “country elements” and its as “country” as anything on country radio, tbh.”
And the song's fans have a point noting the messy optics of a black artist seemingly being counted out of a genre that's dominated by white artists. The backlash grew to a point where a Billboard spokesperson was forced to explicitly deny that the decision was racially motivated, per Genius. Everything about the song, from its journey to popularity to its cowboy imagery, is incredibly of-the-moment, making Billboard's claims that the song isn't aligned with "today's country music" seem clueless.
“Old Town Road” is the rare hit that began as a TikTok meme and jumped to the Billboard charts, soundtracking videos of TikTok users wearing country garb, drinking out of bottles labeled “yee-yee juice” and otherwise transforming into cowboys. Since its release in December, the song has gained Lil Nas X (real name: Montero Lamar Hill) unexpected mainstream fame and a record deal with Columbia.
Beyond its virality, the song arrives at a time when country-Western imagery is trending among stars far beyond Nashville. Cardi B and Solange have both made cowgirl hats, chaps and boots staples of their recent tour looks and album visuals, and Twitter threads and deep-dive articles have celebrated the rise of the "black yeehaw agenda," spotlighting America's history of black cowboy culture and making the case that country aesthetics should be more diverse.
That's why Billboard's move to exclude "Old Town Road" from the country charts is so baffling. While "Old Town Road" still takes clear cues from country music, Lil Nas X's decision "not to embrace" the sound that dominates the rest of Billboard's country charts is the entire point of the song, an attempt to fuse two genres in a way that challenges the way listeners listen to both.
country music is evolving
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by Maeve McDermott, USA TODAY, March 29, 2019
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