Lil Nas X
Lil Nas X
Montero Lamar Hill (born April 9, 1999) is an American rapper, singer, and songwriterfrom Atlanta, Georgia. He is best known for his country rap single "Old Town Road", which achieved viral popularity as part of the "Yeehaw Challenge" on the video sharing app TikTok. "Old Town Road" peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and was controversially removed from the Hot Country Songs after debuting at number 19.
Career
Who Was Lil Nas X Before “Old Town Road?” (Genius News)
He started rapping in June 2018.
[1] Early in his career, Lil Nas was looking to master the art of self-promotion and eventually used memes to create a larger following.
He signed a record deal with Columbia Records and received a Justin Bieber co-sign.
Old Town Road
Lil Nas X released the song "Old Town Road" along with a music video on YouTube in December 2018 and collected over 1 million views soon thereafter. The song eventually gained popularity on TikTok. The music video includes a theme from the game Red Dead Redemption.
On March 11, 2019, it was announced that Lil Nas X's "Old Town Road" debuted at #83 on the Billboard Hot 100; it was the first time Lil Nas X appeared on the Billboard charts.
On March 27, 2019, Billboard decided to remove "Old Town Road" from the country charts. The institution known as Billboard said the following to Rolling Stone Magazine:
"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."
Another Billboard spokesperson told Genius the following: “Billboard’s decision to take the song off of the country chart had absolutely nothing to do with the race of the artist.”
Country music star Billy Ray Cyrus has since supported Lil Nas X's "Old Town Road" in a tweet, and he is a featured vocalist in a remix of the song released in early April 2019.