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Showing posts with the label #Rapper

How Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” Became a Lightning Rod for Race, the Charts, and Country Music

#LilNasXs #OldTownRoad #CountryMusic #BillboardCharts #Rapper Atlanta rapper Lil Nas X is the country-trap star who never was. His viral hit, “Old Town Road,” was removed last week from  Billboard ’s Hot Country Songs chart, after just one week there. But it remains on the Hot 100 chart and the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. First came ire from Nashville types—“‘Old Town Road’ is no more country than the Beastie Boys’ ‘High Plains Drifter,’” wrote  Saving Country Music  on March 23—before  Billboard  put its boot down. “Upon further review, it was determined that ‘Old Town Road’ by Lil Nas X does not currently merit inclusion on Billboard’s country charts,”  Billboard  said in a statement to  Rolling Stone . “When determining genres, a few factors are examined, but first and foremost is musical composition. While ‘Old Town Road’ incorporates references to country and cowboy imagery, it does not embrace enough elements of today’s country m...