Lil Nas X - Old Town Road: Blog tasks

Background and cultural contexts -

This Vox feature and podcast transcript on Lil Nas X and Old Town Road

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

The big debate was on if Old Town Road should be considered a country song. While it includes traditional country elements, like a banjo, cowboy-themed lyrics. It was removed from the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart for not embracing “enough elements of today’s country music.” This raised questions about how genres are defined and who gets to decide what counts as country music.

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

Lil Nas X, born Montero Hill, is a 20-year-old rapper from Atlanta. He started releasing music on SoundCloud, and in December 2018, he released Old Town Road, pairing a country-style beat. The song started as a meme hit, on TikTok, where it became part of the Yeehaw Challenge, helping it go viral. 

3) What is the Yeehaw agenda?

The Yeehaw agenda is a term that describes a rising interest among Black artists in the cowboy/country aesthetic. It was popularised by a tweet from Bri Malandro and aligned with a broader cultural trend of Black artists embracing or remixing country iconography. 

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

The story became a debate about race after Billboard removed Old Town Road from the country chart, despite its country elements. However, Billboard claimed it didn’t have enough “country” elements, but many saw this as racial gatekeeping, especially since white country artists have successfully blended hip hop and pop elements into their songs without being excluded. This sparked convos about how Black artists have historically been marginalised in country music, despite their foundational contributions to the genre.

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

Charlie Harding describes “Old Town Road” as the perfect cultural artifact of the moment, highlighting how it combines internet culture, racial identity, genre fluidity, and generational shifts in music consumption. He emphasises that it challenges outdated ideas of genre and reveals how modern platforms like Spotify and TikTok are reshaping music beyond traditional industry gatekeepers like Billboard. He calls Lil Nas X an “unlikely hero of American culture in 2019,” showing how a viral meme can turn into a powerful statement about identity and inclusion in music.

Salon feature on Lil Nas X and LGBTQ+ identity.

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

He made a tweet with artwork from his new EP with rainbow lights, caption reading "deadass thought I made it obvious", punctuated with a rainbow emoji.

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

This is because 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? 

By 2014, the states that had legalised same-sex marriage cumulatively contained 70 percent of the U.S. population. Then, in 2015,  U.S. Supreme Court struck down all state bans, making marriage equality the law of the land. 

Old Town Road textual analysis -

Watch the video again and answer the following questions. Use your notes from our in-class analysis to help you:

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

• Binary opposition - Western vs Modern, Rap music vs Country music.
• Action codes - Shooting, gun being cocked, whip sound 
• Enigma codes - Time travel, the tunnel 
• Propp - Hero & Sidekick

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

• Black culture: Woah, Quan, 
• Western culture: Line dancing, scenes from western movies
• Celebrity cameos

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.

• Costume: Cowboy outfits used to create the meaning of the western, modern clothing used to represent current fashion. Contrast black neighbourhood
• Camerawork: Fast paced(montage) in order to appeal to the digital culture and keep interest.
• Lighting: High key, bright colouring
• Props: Cars and horse used to create old vs new meaning
• Editing: Uses fades and many cuts.  Typography - typical of westerns

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

Subverts stereotypes you're seeing to very different cultures mashed together. LNX, a black man making a country song, is a good example of cultural conviviality.

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

He wears more bright, 'feminine' colours which align with his identity as a gay man. Subverts stereotypes.

Old Town Road Media Factsheet -

 Old Town Road Media Factsheet #262:

1) Who are the celebrities that appear in cameos in the video? 

Chris Rock, Haha Davis, rappers Vince Staples and Rico Nasty, songwriter Jozzy, producer Youngkio, and DJ Diplo.

2) Choose three of the key terms defined on the first page of the factsheet and write the definitions here. Focus on terms you are unfamiliar with.

Mytheme - Small units of narrative in cultural products; such as theme, character and action, the study of which can reveal the dominant ideas and values of culture.

3) How did Lil Nas X use social media to boost his own popularity and the success of the video?

By trafficking in memes, viral threads, engagement bait, and Nicki Minaj stanning, he was able to create a six-digit follower base on Twitter.

4) Look at the video analysis on page 3. What conventions of the western can be found in the video? 

Setting, horses, line dancing.

5) How does the video begin? 

The exposition of the video starts in media res (in the middle of action) and shows Lil Nas X riding through rugged countryside of the outback being chased by the sheriff and his deputies.

6) What does the factsheet suggest regarding the modern-day part of the video? 

The suburban streets of Los Angeles where the inhabitants are filmed in slow motion astonished at the sight of this newcomer. The “dance-off” and “car-race” between Lil Nas X and the street people are represented in a friendly manner.

7) How can the video be read as a reinforcement of capitalism and the American dream? 

These signifiers of wealth(cars etc..)  such as clutching a money bag with a dollar sign on it, constructing the hyperreality of The American Dream, a cultural myth that states everyone should have equal access and opportunities, especially when it comes to success.

8) How does the factsheet suggest the video creates a hyperreality? 

The video ends with Lil Nas hugging a little white Bingo playing, line-dancing old lady, subverting the negative stereotype of the threatening black man as well as suggesting that outsiders should not be feared. This culminates in a message which constructs a hyperreality of inclusivity and community above fear and violence.

9) How is masculinity represented in the video? 

• The cowboy in popular American culture has featured on radio, in comic books, games, films, and television shows. advertising. This representation often takes a romanticised an ideal of masculinity that is WASP (White Anglo Saxon Protestant). They are depicted as self-reliant, macho and tough, often self-sacrificing and shun romantic relationships with women.
• The typical hypermasculine garb of cowboys is feminised with pink, roses and jewels, transcoding gender signifiers markets.

10) Look at the final page. What theories are suggested for this CSP and which do you think are the most useful? 

Hyperreality.

A/A* extension tasks -

W magazine feature on how the social media world (including Miley Cyrus) reacted to the video

What does this suggest about how digital media is impacting on traditional media products like songs and music videos?  

The fact that the song was memei-fied and this boosted the popularity making it into a trend.