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Switched on Pop

Lil Nas X: Country at the Crossroads

Switched on Pop

Vox Media Podcast Network

Music Interviews, Music History, Music, Music Commentary

4.62.7K Ratings

🗓️ 16 April 2019

⏱️ 40 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Lil Nas X currently holds the #1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart with his surprise hit “Old Town Road.” But though the song is dripping with country twang, you won’t find it anywhere on the country charts. That’s because Billboard removed it, on the grounds of not having enough “musical elements” of country—a move that in turn left many wondering if the vanishing had something to do with Lil Nas X, a black artist, venturing into a field dominated by white musicians. We dig deep into the history and musical matter of “Old Town Road,” then pit it against other country hits to test its deep fried bonafides. Songs DiscussedLil Nas X - Old Town RoadNine Inch Nails - 34 Ghosts IVBeba Rexa - Mean to Be (feat. Florida Georgia Line)Kelsea Ballerini - Miss You MoreSam Hunt - Speakers / Ghetto Cowboy - Bone Thugz N' HarmonyFilmore - Love That About You Lil Nas X - Old Town Road (feat. Billy Ray Cyrus) Mason Ramsey - Walmart Yodeling KidHank Williams - Love Sick BluesEmmett Miller & His Georgia Crackers - Lock Sick Blues Other LinksTanya Texas Tucker's list of Black artists and their collaborations with country starsJezebel interview with Bri Malandro, originator of the "Yee Haw Agenda" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

Sabotage hired goons and a landfill in Utah.

0:05.0

How Steve Jobs' revolutionary catastrophe of a computer, the Apple Lisa, earned a brief

0:10.7

second life and then was buried for good.

0:14.8

Watch the Verges documentary Lisa's final act now on YouTube.

0:30.0

Welcome to Switched On Pop.

0:35.4

I'm musicologist Nate Sloan.

0:37.8

And I'm songwriter Charlie Harding.

0:39.6

Charlie, today we are discussing Little Nas X in his track Old Town Road.

0:45.4

We're really going to go there.

0:46.8

We're really going to go there.

0:47.8

Yeah.

0:48.8

Currently number one in the Billboard Hot 100 charts.

0:52.0

Is it really?

0:53.0

Yeah, as of this recording.

0:54.0

I wonder how the Billboard feels about that.

0:55.6

We'll get to that.

0:56.6

There's a song that has sparked a national conversation about what country music sounds

1:03.3

like and who gets to sing it.

1:06.1

Do I get to sing it?

1:07.3

All that will be tackled and more.

1:09.6

But we're just going to push this whole question of genre to the side for a second.

1:13.8

Yeah.

...

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