Lil Nas X - Old Town Road

 Background and cultural contexts

1) What is the big debate regarding Old Town Road and genre?

 Earlier this year, Billboard removed “Old Town Road” from its country chart, which boosted the rapper’s profile to a wider audience while fueling a debate about what defines country music and who gets to decide.

2) What do you learn about the background of Lil Nas X and Old Town Road from the podcast transcript?

Old Town Road” debuted in the 19th spot on the March 16 edition of Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart. But the following week it was gone — having been moved to the Hot Rap Songs chart, where it entered at No. 24.

3) What is the Yeehaw agenda?

The Yee haw agenda. This woman, Bri Malandro, tweeted about how a lot of black artists are getting interested in sort of the country aesthetic. And the way that Lil Nas X factored into that is, while people were picking up on the good ol’ cowboy/cowgirl aesthetic, his song was circulating on Twitter and he made it available for free on TikTok, which is this huge platform kind of akin to Vine where people can lip sync to songs and record themselves doing dance moves, and people who already were kind of feeling this kind of ironic cowboy vibe turned “Old Town Road” into the “Yee Haw Challenge.” It became this new TikTok phenomenon where people would try and outdo each other dancing to “Old Town Road.” So the way the song starts is, it’s very like classic country, and then the beat drops.

4) How did the story become a debate about race in America?

Yes, exactly. That was exciting for a lot of people. I mean, we don’t often see black artists on the country charts in general and we don’t often see SoundCloud-born rap-adjacent songs charting so highly — especially ones that really are just circulated through memes and the internet.

5) How does Charlie Harding sum up the whole thing in the final part of the podcast transcript?

''Absolutely. We have to also point out how amazing it is that this thing which was a meme that was commentary on cowboy culture and black identity that became an immediate overnight thinkpiece which an aging country star then remixed. Like, this thing is entirely of our moment. This is not old country music of a rural community. This is the internet generation. ''

1) How did Lil Nas X announce his sexuality on social media?

Rapper Lil Nas X of viral, genre-blurring country-rap “Old Town Road” fame came out as gay. In a series of tweets, he encouraged fans to listen to his song “c7osure,” which talks about coming clean about secrets and accepting oneself. 

2) Why does the article describe Old Town Road as 'genre-blurring'? 

As a genre-blurring artist whose breakthrough hit harnessed both hip hop and country sounds and fans, Lil Nas X's public declaration of his sexuality touches both genres. On the country side of the industry, LGBTQ visibility and celebration has come a long way in recent years. 

3) How has country music demonstrated the social change taking place in American culture and society? 

Ty Herndon reissued his 1995 debut single “What Mattered Most” with the pronouns altered. In the original version he sang, “Her eyes are blue, her hair was long/ In '64, she was born in Baton Rouge”; now he sings, “His eyes are blue, his hair is long/ In ‘64, he was born in Baton Rouge.”

While Herndon’s peak popularity was definitely restricted to the '90s, he made headlines in 2014 when he became the first mainstream male country star to come out. 2014 was a big year for LGBTQ news in country music.

Old Town Road textual analysis

1) How is the narrative features used in the music video? Apply narrative theory here.

• Opening narrative sequence - immediate disequilibrium 

                                                               - danger

                                                               - chase scene : '' not to welcoming to outsiders''

• Enigma and action codes - gun SFX (action code)

                                                         - time travel - enigma = how? why?

                                                         - car + horse race - both

                                                         - money bag

• Propp - character types - Lil Nas X - hero (ambiguous)

                                                      - BRC - donor/helper

                                                      -  ''don't worry you are with me now'' - reflects social context of                                                               song and county chart controversy.

• Binary oppositions -  Outsiders v Townfolk

                                              - time period - old v new

                                              -  cultural conviality

                                              - race - but broken down by the end of the video

2) What examples of genre conventions and intertextuality can you find in the video?

• Comedic references such as the falling down noise was a cartoonist sound effect

• Steve Neale - repetition and difference

• Opening transition - western

• Introduction of the 2 main characters - whip noises - western code

• Western conventions in terms of costuming, sound and setting and props

• Linebacker dancing - western convention

• Back to the future element

• Celebrity cameos

• Tiktok - phone, dancing

• Marlboro man - masculinity - BRC in a pink suit - knowing reference to postmodernism

3) How are technical codes used to create meanings in the video? Analyse camerawork, editing and mise-en-scene and make specific reference to moments in the video.

• In terms of mise-en-scene its very evident hat a lot of thought was put into the costuming and how the setting was going to be constructed in order for it to fit the music

• References throughout the video are shown to be quite deliberate for example, the phone being held up by one of the extras shows how the songs popularity was started on TikTok

• Camera- work is critical since they are trying to create a western type of feel video therefore the western codes are critical to show in thus case was the long shots and medium long shots which are seen in the western genre films

• Throughout the video you can see the editing is very subtle but one scene where the editing is seen as a crucial aspect is on his way through the two worlds when he is seen to be time travelling

4) How are representations of race and ethnicity constructed in the video?

• Lil Nas X being one of the main black characters 

• Celebrity cameo such as Chris Rock 

• After LNX time travels onto 2019 we see only see black extras

• This plays onto the stereotype of black people being associated to Hip-hop/ rap genres be it in music or movies.

• Cultural aspects as well are shown such as the cookout happening, the dancing and the music in the background

5) What other representations can you find in the video? You may wish to comment on gender, sexuality or America/American culture. 

In terms of Lil Nas X's sexuality, as we know he came out later in a chain of tweets assuming that he 'made it very obvious'. Now if we see the video again knowing this information we can infer the subtle details shows throughout the video. For example, BRC wearing a pink suit.