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.
" Video 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 .
