Lil Nas X, "Old Town Road," and the Narrow Appreciation For Black Artists in Country Music

By Michael Arceneaux


On Tuesday, Lil Nas X scored his first No. 1 on a Billboard chart with his breakout hit “Old Town Road.” The track, which gained traction thanks to a viral TikTok challenge, sits atop the On-Demand Streaming Songs tally dated April 6. In addition, the song has since risen into the best 10 of the Streaming Songs chart with 29.1 million total streams and reached a new peak on the Billboard Hot 100, right now officially a top-20 smash for the Atlanta native. "Old Town Road" even received a co-sign by Billy Ray Cyrus, and the nation music veteran has contributed to the single’s first remix, out now.


However, Billy Ray aside, Lil Nas X’s more recent successes don’t negate what several rightly feel is unfair treatment of his single. Indeed, only a week ago did X make headlines immediately after Billboard reported the removal of “Old Town Road” from the Hot Nation Songs chart — reportedly telling Lil Nas X’s label, Columbia Records, that it was a mistake to include him. Insert your booes, hisses, and stomps in your cowboy boots here.


In a statement to Rolling Stone, Billboard explained that “upon further review, it was decided that ‘Old Town Road’ by Lil Nas X does not currently merit inclusion on Billboard‘s nation charts. Whenever determining genres, a couple of factors are examined, although first and foremost is musical composition. While ‘Old Town Road’ incorporates references to nation and cowboy imagery, it does not embrace enough elements of today’s nation music to chart in its current version.”


Billboard sent a subsequent statement professing that the decision had nothing to do with race. It was a point Danny Kang, who co-manages nation artist Mason Ramsey, reiterated to the publication: “That’s a hip-hop song,” he told them, before going on to argue that X’s choice to list “Old Town Road” as a nation record was more so a plan of action to increase traction rather than proper genre descriptor.


In an interview with Billboard, YoungKio, who produced “Old Town Road,” grouped the song as “country-trap.” He conceded that the production “is not a nation beat,” yet explained how Lil Nas X “turned it into a country-type song with what he did with the lyrics, his vocals.” Some might play purist with those comments — suggesting they indicate that a country-type song isn't same because the “real thing” — yet it could be inconsistent with the chart’s history.


As Okayplayer’s Dashan Smith points out, this is the same chart that, in 2001, boasted a No. 1 chart debut for Toby Keith’s “I Wanna Talk About Me,” and in doing so, became the initial country-rap song to top the Hot Nation Songs chart. At the time, Keith defiantly resisted to permit anyone to brand it a rap track, quipping, “There ain’t nobody doing rap who would call it a rap.”


Right now some nearly 20 years later, nation songs with hip-hop influences and vice versa have become far more commonplace.


Jason Aldean and Ludacris worked with each other on the nation rap single “Dirt Road Anthem,” which reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Nation Songs chart and peaked at No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100. Florida Georgia Line collaborated with Nelly for a remix of their single “Cruise.” The group effort, released in 2013 — per year immediately after its original release — helped bolster the songs sales and introduce Florida Georgia Line to the pop and adult crossover crowds. Several of us attempt to forget about “Accidental Racist” out of respect for a hip-hop pioneer, yet Brad Paisley and LL Cool J made that song plus it made it to No. 23 on Hot Nation Songs chart.


There have been several hip-hop artists who have suggested their own country-inspired tracks — including Young Thug (“Family Don’t Matter”), Nappy Roots (“Po Folks” featuring Anthony Hamilton), and Master P (“Ooohhhwee”). There have also been artists who bridge nation and rap like Cowboy Troy, who enjoyed nation chart success with "I Play Chicken with the Train.” And Black nation artists like Kane Brown and Darius Rucker have recently topped the nation charts — with Brown’s Experiment also reaching No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in 2018.


The problem, although, is ultimately nation music’s inconsistencies. Why can Sam Hunt chart with “Body Like A Back Road” — with its nods to DJ Mustard’s production — and get to sit atop the nation charts without pushback? Why is it that nation artists like Toby Keith and several others can use hip-hop artists and culture to boost their commercial ambitions yet it becomes trickier for Black artists who create their own country-rap concoctions? And how does it seem like white rappers — Bubba Sparxxx, Colt Ford, and Redneck Souljers — have an easier time climbing Billboard’s nation charts than their Black counterparts?


Numerous genres have eluded definition because the sounds have blurred after awhile, although even Black acts who makes nation music that constitutes as “traditional” still seem to face problems.


To wit, in 2016, Beyoncé reportedly attempted to submit the Lemonade track “Daddy Lessons” to the Grammy committee that oversees the awards given to nation songs, only to be resisted — despite the song’s immediately obvious nation flavor. It apparently met the standards of the Nation Music Association Awards, though, where Beyoncé performed the track with the Dixie Chicks.


As a fellow native Texan, I’ve long known of Black folks’ affinity for nation music. Soon considering that, nation music owes much to Black artists like DeFord Bailey, Charley Pride, Ray Charles, and others.


As Pamela Foster, author of the book My Country: The African Diaspora's Nation Music Heritage, once instructed them Chicago Tribune: "In the antebellum South, banjos, fiddles and harmonicas were the dominant instruments played in Black culture. Unfortunately, history has distorted these facts to create people believe jazz, blues, and spirituals were the staples of Black culture at that time any time, case in point, it was country.”


Yet our contributions were not respected then or now.


Last year, Brown, in a since-deleted tweet, called out the racism of his colleagues (which he also has been known to do in his music and performances), writing, “Some people in Nashville who have pub[lishing] deals won’t write with me because I’m black.”


Knowing that’s the case for a top-selling artist like Brown, I have a hard time believing Lil Nas X would have it any easier if he recommended a more “traditional” song. Genre borders are troubling in of themselves, yet what is most grating is the challenging reality Black artists continue to face in genres that are predominately white — even should these art forms are historically rooted in Black culture.


As soon as I am glad Billboard’s unfortunate decision hasn't stifled the rise of Lil Nas X and “Old Town Road,” it remains depressing that far also several only look at Black artists through such a rigid lens.