Billy Ray Cyrus has teamed up with Lil Nas X to remix the latter’s song “Old Town Road,” adding his Tennessee twang to the track, which is a hybrid of country and trap music.
The remix was released on Friday, April 5 and features Cyrus offering a verse that includes lines like “Hat down, crosstown, living like a rockstar, spend a lot of money on my brand new guitar,” all set to a trap beat.
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“Old Town Road” had recently sparked a discussion after it was removed from Billboard‘s country charts last month.
After the removal, a Billboard spokesperson said in a statement to Rolling Stone that the song “does not embrace enough elements of today’s country music to chart in its current version.” In another statement, Billboard added that the “decision to take the song off of the country chart had absolutely nothing to do with the race of the artist.”
Lil Nas X told Time that the song is “country trap.”
“It’s not one, it’s not the other,” he said. “It’s both. It should be on both [charts].”
In December, the artist had tweeted a video of himself listening to the song and wrote, “twitter please help me get billy ray cyrus on this.”
His missive clearly worked, as Cyrus tweeted his support for Lil Nas X and the song on April 3, writing, “Been watching everything going on with OTR. When I got thrown off the charts, Waylon Jennings said to me “Take this as a compliment” means you’re doing something great! Only Outlaws are outlawed. Welcome to the club!”
On Friday, Lil Nas X tweeted that Cyrus had visited his studio and given him an inspiring pep talk.
billy ray came to my studio session last night and gave me one of the most uplifting talks i have ever heard in my life. shit almost brought me to tears like deadass.
— nope (@LilNasX) April 5, 2019
“Old Town Road” is currently at No. 15 on Billboard‘s Hot 100 chart, though it’s currently unclear if the addition of Cyrus will be enough to land the track on Billboard‘s country charts.
To celebrate the remix, Cyrus’ daughter, Miley Cyrus, posted about the song on her Twitter account, sharing a selection of memes that had popped up after the release.
https://t.co/95Q7eX3IfP pic.twitter.com/60WRy20pyx
— Miley Ray Cyrus (@MileyCyrus) April 5, 2019
“Old Town Road” is not the first collaboration between a country artist and a rapper, with several Twitter users referencing Tim McGraw and Nelly’s 2004 duet “Over and Over.”
Nelly and Tim McGraw walked so lil nas X and billy Ray Cyrus could run 🤠🐴
— Jose Govea (@josegovea_) April 5, 2019
Others joked that the remix has made them rethink their stance on country music.
me: I don’t like country
— Mina Kimes (@minakimes) April 5, 2019
*listens to the old town road remix once*
me: pic.twitter.com/ilCuOoQwXr
Photo Credit: Getty / Axelle/Bauer-Griffin
