Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Lil Nas X’s ‘Old Town Road’ and the cultural significance of black country music
The number one track on the Billboard Top 100 Chart right now is called Old Town Road with Lil Nas X.
By Madeleine Brand • • 1 min readThe number one track on the Billboard Top 100 Chart right now is called Old Town Road with Lil Nas X.
He describes his song as country-trap, but not everyone agrees it’s country enough. Billboard quietly removed the song from their “Hot Country Songs” chart, saying, it “does not embrace enough elements of today’s country music.” As a result the song has ended up at the center of a debate on race, the Nashville establishment and musical genres.
The full episode
5 of 5
Can a short-term fix help long-term homelessness?- 0:00How the Writers Guild protest could change the industry
- 12:39Can the president preemptively pardon someone?
- 20:53Fire at Notre-Dame: what that means for Paris and the rest of the world
- 28:23LA officials are housing more homeless people than ever before, but how?
- 36:22Lil Nas X’s ‘Old Town Road’ and the cultural significance of black country musicYou’re reading this
The full episode
5 of 5Can a short-term fix help long-term homelessness?- 0:00How the Writers Guild protest could change the industry
- 12:39Can the president preemptively pardon someone?
- 20:53Fire at Notre-Dame: what that means for Paris and the rest of the world
- 28:23LA officials are housing more homeless people than ever before, but how?
- 36:22Lil Nas X’s ‘Old Town Road’ and the cultural significance of black country musicYou’re reading this