Lil Nas X on Beyoncé and Shaboozey’s Country Music Inclusion: ‘I Wasn’t Able to Experience This’
Written by Rtradio on May 21, 2024
As Beyoncé sees success with her hit Cowboy Carter album, Lil Nas X is looking back on the controversy that surrounded his most-talked-about track, “Old Town Road.” The 2019 single rocketed the musician to musical superstardom, but not without stirring up a massive debate about the country music genre and its inclusivity.
Following the release and initial success of the original song, Billboard removed it from their country music chart, saying in a statement to 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.”
Talking to Time Magazine about the controversy, Lil Nas X described the song as “country trap” and said it should be eligible for inclusion on both R&B and country music charts.
“It’s not one, it’s not the other. It’s both. It should be on both,” he asserted. “I believe whenever you’re trying something new, it’s always going to get some kind of bad reception. For example, when rap started, or when rock and roll began. But with country trap, I in no way want to take credit for that. I believe Young Thug would be one of the biggest pioneers in that.”
The decision resulted in an online backlash, with some saying that Lil Nas X’s exclusion continued country music’s troubled history of turning its back on Black artists. It also stirred up discussion about mainstream acceptance of musical genre crossovers, which many pointed out have been done before to much success.
Twitter user @Sojourner wrote: “White people infiltrate hip-hop, rap & pop… and black culture all the time. They get awarded for it and called innovators but a black man does it and it’s an issue. Nah. Good for Lil Nas X. He got a country hit.”
The song went on to top the Billboard Hot 100 chart for 19 consecutive weeks — a new record, beating out the previous mark of 16 weeks held by both “One Sweet Day” by Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men and “Despacito” by Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee featuring Justin Bieber — and topped the singles charts in at least 10 other countries.
Now, five years later, genre-blending artists like Beyoncé and Shaboozey are seeing success on the country chart that some fans feel was also owed to Lil Nas X.
Beyoncé made history as the first Black female artist to top Billboard’s Hot 100 Country Songs chart with “Texas Hold ‘Em.” The track spent 10 weeks at the top, only getting dethroned by Shaboozey with his single, “A Bar Song (Tipsy).”
In a recent interview with BBC, Lil Nas X shared that he’s happy to see the success of other Black artists on the country music chart, but lamented the removal of his own single years ago.
“I wish this would have happened for me. I wasn’t even able to experience this,” he told the outlet.
In a post shared on X (formerly Twitter), the Montero artist added, “I wish I wasn’t removed from the chart.. especially now that country has more trap/rap influences than ever.”
Although Lil Nas X has largely stayed away from country music since the controversy, he revealed he’s been “trying out some country [sounds] here and there over the last couple of years”.
“I want to feel connected to it and not force it,” he added.
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