Racism in COUNTRY MUSIC? Lil Nas X (video)

Rodney Carmichael (npr.org); CBS News; Sheldon S., Crystal Quintero (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

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Lil Nas X (Eric Lang/courtesy of the artist)

[Lil Nas X] consumed the nation in a debate over race, genre, and their unholy miscegenation [cross breeding] over the last century in the music industry:

His country-trap ditty "Old Town Road" topped the Billboard Hot 100. It wasn't totally unexpected, especially after he released a twangy remix last Friday featuring another country disrupter, Billy Ray Cyrus [Miley Cyrus' dad].



But in the aftermath of Billboard removing "Old Town Road" from the Hot Country Songs chart the week prior — while declaring that the song "does not embrace enough elements of today's country music" — his success proves the gatekeepers comically incapable of reining him in as he hops genres, busts formats, and breaks all the old-school taboos. More

CBS News opines on Billboard's decision to remove black artist Lil Nas X from its country music chart because his hit song was not "country" enough. He remade it and it's more than country enough, but the arbitrators of genre think they can censor and de-list as they like.