(Writer: Doug Quimby)

The song “Old Town Road” by Lil Nas X has recently taken over a few different Top Charts and has sparked a lot of talk among the internet community. The song is hybrid between a country and a trap song, and it goes hard. It’s the perfect blend of banjo, trap drums, and country lyrics.

The super catchy song was released originally December of last year and started to get more popular through the app TikTok. After gaining lots of traction on online streaming platforms and radio, the song reached the top of Billboard’s Hot Country, Hot 100, and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop charts. But the song was taken off of the Billboard Country list because it wasn’t “country enough” according to Billboard. This sparked a lot of backlash on the internet and Billboard has said they may revisit the decision. Lil Nas X was able to get Billy Ray Cyrus to do a feature on the official remix of the song. The remix was released Friday, April 5 and has been topping the streaming platform’s charts. So with Billy Ray Cyrus on the song does it make it country? That seems to be the conversation now.

(Photo: CNN)

Old Town Road is in a genre all on its own. The mixing of two genres have formed something not seen often in music. The industry doesn’t know what to label it as and maybe that’s the point. In a time where everything has to be put into a box and categorized and labeled this or that, Lil Nas has figured out how to do something different, and the people seem to love it. I think this is what the music industry needs, more people taking risks. And if more songs are going to be coming out like this, maybe we’ll see a whole new genre form. Hip-hop and country have finally come together, and the world isn’t over. Who knew?