ARTIST SPOTLIGHT: Lil Nas X

If you have any sort of access to the media, you probably sometimes catch yourself singing along to, or humming the lyrics of, “I got the horses in the back. Horse tack is attached…” You probably even read those lyrics to the tune of the hottest song out right now. So, what song am I talking about? You guessed it right, “Old Town Road” by Lil Nas X. Whatever your opinions are of the song, it doesn’t matter because you definitely know it and the song has been number one on the Billboard Hot 100 for the 12th week in a row!

So, enough about the song, who is the artist behind this amazing country/hip-hop hit?

Yeah, yeah, we all know Lil Nas X is the artist of “Old Town Road”, but WHO is he really? The genius behind this catchy tune, whose birth name is Montero Lamar Hill, is only 20 years old and is from Atlanta, Georgia. The artist literally went from nothing to something. In a tweet back in April, Lil Nas X said he had -$5.62 in his Wells Fargo account before the song became a hit.

In an interview with Nardwuar, the artist confirmed the tweet and said that he would, “spread it [cash] out… I would go and get some Now and Laters every now and again and promote on Twitter.” That is crazy!!!! This definitely explains why the young artist is so humble.

Now, the question is, how did this song even come about? In an interview on ABC’s “Nightline”, Lil Nas X said he paid $30 for the beat and dropped the song on SoundCloud. He started promoting his song via Twitter and said he “started forcing it into the Internet in a way.” The song then started to go viral on the music sharing app, TikTok. If you haven’t seen any of these videos, you should pause this reading sesh now and search Youtube for some of these, because they are amazing. The people in these videos start off as their regular selves, do a jump and magically land back on the floor as cowboys/girls when the song reaches the lyrics, “I got the horses in the back.” That explanation doesn’t do it justice, just go watch them for yourselves. I’ll wait...

Now that you’ve watched some of those videos, let’s get more into Lil Nas X and his viral hit. The song also sparked controversy when it charted on Billboard’s Country Chart and was later removed. Billboard defended their decision to Rolling Stone stating that the track “does not embrace enough elements of today’s country music to chart in its current version.” I mean, he wears cowboy clothes while he raps, uses a little accent, talks about horses, there’s even a banjo in the song, like, come on… sounds pretty country to me.

The controversy did no harm to Lil Nas X, though. In fact, some might say it helped him out quite a bit. The controversy caught country legend Billy Ray Cyrus’s attention and the two paired up and created the “Old Town Road Remix”. Who would have ever thought that these two would create a song together?! I sure didn’t, but I think that’s part of why the song is such a hit. It’s different, it’s unique, it’s fresh. Plus, his track has now been number one on the Billboard’s Hot 100 for 12 weeks in a row. Pfft, can’t nobody tell Lil Nas X nothing.

I am literally singing along to the song in my head as I write this. I bet you are too.

I personally cannot get enough of this kid. He’s young, goofy, talented, and humble. What’s not to love?! As the song continues its streak of being number one, a lot of people are thinking, “What’s next for Lil Nas X?” One Hit wonder? NOPE. Lil Nas X dropped his EP titled 7 last Friday (June 21), and though critics are quick to say it isn’t great, the EP proves otherwise. The EP has 9 songs, including “Old Town Road” and “Old Town Remix”. His track “Rodeo” also features Cardi B. The EP is the number one album on Apple Music, the songs “Panini” and “Rodeo” are in the top five songs on Apple Music, and the kid just killed his performance with Billy Ray Cyrus at the BET Awards on June 23. 

Lil Nas X has proved he has a few more horses in the back and I am excited to see what else he has in store for him. Maybe a duo with Gordon Ramsay? He recently tweeted that he was trying to get Ramsey on his “Panini Remix”, to which Ramsay replied, “Tell me more.” Gosh, I hope that dup happens. I guess we will see. Anyways, don’t you be a meanie and enjoy the ride because Lil Nas X isn’t going anywhere time soon.