There's been a lot of controversy lately surrounding Lil Nas X's song Old Town Road. The song originally went viral on the app Tik Tok, where people would "countrify" themselves when the beat dropped. Lil Nas X's growing mainstream popularity garnered the Old Town Road music video 24 MILLION views.
However, there has recently been some controversy surrounding the song and its placements on the Billboard charts. Following its original release in December, Old Town Road, which blends elements of country and rap, charted on Billboard's Hot 100, Billboard's Hot Country Songs, and Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs at the same time. However, what should have been cause for celebration for the up and coming 19 year old rapper turned sour when Billboard quietly removed the song from their Hot Country Songs chart right before it was projected to reach #1. The removal incited outrage and claims of discrimination among artists and fans alike. Artists such as Moses Sumney and Billy Ray Cyrus voiced their support for Lil Nas X on Twitter.
In response to the controversy, Billboard issued a statement to Rolling Stones regarding their decision to remove the song from the country chart stating "upon further review, it was determined that ‘Old Town Road’ by Lil Nas X does not currently merit inclusion on Billboard‘s country charts. When determining genres, a few factors are examined, but first and foremost is musical composition. While ‘Old Town Road’ incorporates references to country and cowboy imagery, it does not embrace enough elements of today’s country music to chart in its current version."
However, Lil Nas X wasn't letting the controversy get him down and just two days ago he announced that he would be collaborating with Billy Ray Cyrus on a remix of Old Town Road - even teasing some photos of him and the Achy Breaky Heart singer in the studio together.
And in what has to be one of the quickest turn arounds in music history, Old Town Road (feat. Billy Ray Cyrus) [Remix] was released earlier today. The video has already racked up 1.5 MILLION views and is currently the #1 Trending video on Youtube. The song is also currently #1 on iTunes, beating out The Jonas Brothers' newest single Cool.
Needless to say, the internet is absolutely losing it over Billy Ray spitting bars.
And Billy even shared a sweet behind the scenes video of the making of the remix.
We stan legends supporting legends!