Yet even in its jokey vibe there’s some actual pathos - no matter how put on, the lonesome cowboy sorrow of Lil Nas X’s declaration that he’ll “ride till can’t no more” feels genuine. It’s meme rap, but much like prior iterations of this joke (“Like a Farmer”), Lil Nas X fully and deeply commits - he doesn’t drop the pretense for a single line, keeping the track short enough to not outlive its welcome while still exploring its weird conceit to its fullest. It’s a joke until it’s not - maybe you came in from the Red Dead Redemption 2 video, or from a friend of yours talking about the hilarious country trap song, or from the artist’s own Twitter, which is more Meech On Mars than Meek Mill, but no matter the source, you’ll find that “Old Town Road” has its way of looping into your brain, all drawls and boasts and banjos.
It’s all in the bait and switch of that intro - banjos and horns plunking away until Lil Nas X’s triumphant “YEAAAH” (second this decade only to Fetty Wap) drops and the beat comes in. Because beyond all world-historical significance, “Old Town Road” fucking bangs. It’s the perfect hunk of think-piece fodder: a simple core question - is it country? - that can spiral out to all corners of culture until the song itself is obscured. Jacob Sujin Kuppermann: There are essays upon essays to be written about “Old Town Road” as a prism for the racial divides that have served as undergirding for the modern American genre system since the 1930s division between “hillbilly” and “race” records. I’m a little annoyed, because the conversation around “Old Town Road” is something that country music should be having… but just not around “Old Town Road.” The song didn’t even chart on it’s own merits: it charted because it’s used in a TikTok meme! This is like if “We Are Number One” or “ No Mercy” made their way to the top of the iTunes charts and people decided to have a conversation about the limits of genre based on those charting. Everything about it screams “filler track for the SoundCloud page,” from the length to the trap beats to the aggressively mediocre lyrics. Is this a further example of the well-documented racism in country music? Or is this just a freak accident hick-hop song that vaulted its way out of the depths of subgenre hell? Is a twangy voice and references to horses enough to make a song “country”? Does the presence of Billy Ray Cyrus in a remix that dropped on Friday legitimize the song’s credentials or just make them worse? Where was all this controversy when “Meant To Be,” an honest-to-god pop song, was holding steady on the charts? There are so many questions and so many points of conversation that spring out from this song, that it’s a pity “Old Town Road” itself is just okay.
The song charting, then being excluded, from the Billboard Country Music charts opens so many questions that can’t be answered in one sitting. Katie Gill: The problem with “Old Town Road” is that it’s more interesting as a thinkpiece than an actual song. We’re gonna bluuuurb til we can’t no more… Donnie Trumpet & the Social Experiment.I LIE HERE BURIED WITH MY RINGS AND MY DRESSES.Email (song suggestions/writer enquiries).