The viral single of "Old Town Road" Lil Nas X starts a conversation about gender and race: NPR



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Despite the viral success of the song "Old Town Road" by Lil Nas X, which combines elements of rap and country, Display panel remove the song from his Hot Country Songs board.

Eric Lagg / Courtesy of the artist


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Eric Lagg / Courtesy of the artist

Despite the viral success of the song "Old Town Road" by Lil Nas X, which combines elements of rap and country, Display panel remove the song from his Hot Country Songs board.

Eric Lagg / Courtesy of the artist

When an artist finds his song climbing Display panel graphics for the first time, it's usually a party motif. But in the case of 19-year-old rapper Lil Nas X, and his viral success, "Old Town Road (I've got horses in the back)", that's also a cause for controversy.

Lil Nas X first released "Old Town Road" in December 2018 and quickly gained popularity on the TikTok social media app. "Old Town Road" mixes country genres and traps and in March, the song was inspired by Display panelThe Hot 100, Hot Country and Hot R & B / Hip-Hop charts simultaneously. But that same month, Display panel deletes the track from its Hot Country Songs list. This raised questions and sparked fan outrage over discrimination.

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The publication issued a statement to Rolling stone defending the revision of the chart which reads as follows: "Although" Old Town Road "incorporates references to images of country and cowboys, it does not include enough elements of the current country music to feature in its current version. "

Reviews from Display panelThe decision of, including artists like Moses Sumney and Billy Ray CyrusThis is proof that the music industry does not grant black artists the same creative license as white artists.

"This song is definitely a rap song, but who decides what is or is not country music is very subjective," said Sam Sanders, host of NPR & # 39; s It's been a minute. "Many people say" Hey, Billboard, Hey, country, you allow white artists to be included in these charts with songs that are not quite the country. "There are artists like Sam Hunt who was clearly influenced by hip-hop, artists like Taylor Swift who have been creating country pop and country songs for years."

Shane Morris, founder of BMD Agency in Nashville, said that some of the resistance against Lil Nas X was not solely related to the breed. It was also the peasant industry that feared the emergence of the rapper; on social media without going through the gatekeepers of Nashville.

"It's not like a SoundCloud for an independent country," Morris says. "Fans do not adopt the music the same way.We give them a lot what they are supposed to like and that's all."

With songs like "Old Town Road" that change the playing field, Sanders says it's the country's job to adapt. "The question is whether country music can catch up with hip-hop and everyone and make peace with this brave new world?"

On April 5, Lil Nas X released the official remix of "Old Town Road" starring Billy Ray Cyrus.

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