Breland Drops Lil Nas X Diss Track 'Well Runs Dry'

Among the lyrics in his Lil Nas X diss track, Breland sings, 'Country hands fed you, you just bit 'em.'

By Stephen Andrew

Well, you can mark this down as a 2024 music beef we absolutely did not have on our BINGO card. On Thursday night, genre-blending country singer-songwriter Breland took to his social media to share a new song, "Well Runs Dry," while tagging rapper Lil Nas X.

Breland also directed his followers to YouTube where he uploaded a very clear diss track about the "Old Town Road" singer, though he never technically mentions Nas X by name. The song starts with Breland noting that he "ain't switch up" from the country music industry, then chiding Nas X for changing "lanes then start complaining you ain't get no love."

He also refers to the rapper by saying, "Lil mess, lil press, lil zest, lil bitter," and later adds, "I miss X back when it was Twitter." In the song's chorus, Breland sings, "Hell nah / Look who came back for more / What's wrong? / No rain in your skies / Good Lord / Ain't no going back and forth / You done picked your side / You only miss the water when the well runs dry."

In the second verse, Breland makes his qualms a lot more direct. "I broke ground in this old town you sure did move out fast," he sings. "Found some fame and lost your twang, you've been through hell and back." 

Breland then criticizes Nas X by singing, "Country hands fed you, you just bit 'em / 17 plaques, still play the victim / Octave or a key you don't know the difference." Before concluding on the chorus again, Breland make it known that "A lot of y'all probably think that I'm just kidding," while he most certainly is not.

Interestingly, the backbone of "Well Runs Dry" is a strong guitar riff that has similarities to Queen's "Another One Bites The Dust." We obviously can't say this is intentional but, if so,  it would add an interesting layer to Breland's gripes.

So what led to this, very surprising, diss track? Breland hasn't explicitly offered a reason — and it's unclear what the nature of the relationship, if any, between the two has been in the past — but we speculate that it may stem from a recent interview Nas X gave to the BBC.

While discussing the success of Beyonce's country music album and "A Bar Song (Tipsy)" singer Shaboozey — both Black artists — have had in the country space over the past few months, Nas X said that he's "happy" for them, but wishes "this would have happened for me. I wasn't even able to experience this."

Nas X, whose real name Montero Lamar Hill, later said that he's been "trying out some country [sounds] here and there over the last couple of years" for new music, but added that he's not necessarily planning to return to the genre. "I want to feel connected to it and not force it," he said.

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"Old Town Road" was somewhat of an underdog hit, as after it initially debuted on Billboard's country music charts, it was taken out of the genre. Many country music fans and industry insiders argued that it is more hip-hop or rap than it was country. The song was not lacking in defenders, however, with country music superstar Billy Ray Cyrus expressing his love for the song, and then later appearing on its remix, the version that went on to be so record-breakingly successful.

At this time, Lil Nas X does not appear to have responded to "Well Runs Dry."

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