Music Video: Old Town Road CSP

 Lil Nas X - Old Town Road: Blog tasks

Background and cultural contexts 

1) What is the big debate regarding Old Town Road and genre?
 Earlier this year, Billboard removed “Old Town Road” from its country chart, which boosted the rapper’s profile to a wider audience while fueling a debate about what defines country music and who gets to decide.

2) What do you learn about the background of Lil Nas X and Old Town Road from the podcast transcript?
“Old Town Road” debuted in the 19th spot on the March 16 edition of Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart. But the following week it was gone — having been moved to the Hot Rap Songs chart, where it entered at No. 24.

3) What is the Yeehaw agenda?

The yee haw agenda. This woman, Bri Malandro, tweeted about how a lot of black artists are getting interested in sort of the country aesthetic. And the way that Lil Nas X factored into that is, while people were picking up on the good ol’ cowboy/cowgirl aesthetic, his song was circulating on Twitter and he made it available for free on TikTok, which is this huge platform kind of akin to Vine where people can lip sync to songs and record themselves doing dance moves, and people who already were kind of feeling this kind of ironic cowboy vibe turned “Old Town Road” into the “Yee Haw Challenge.” It became this new TikTok phenomenon where people would try and outdo each other dancing to “Old Town Road.” So the way the song starts is, it’s very like classic country, and then the beat drops.

4) How did the story become a debate about race in America?

Yes, exactly. That was exciting for a lot of people. I mean, we don’t often see black artists on the country charts in general and we don’t often see SoundCloud-born rap-adjacent songs charting so highly — especially ones that really are just circulated through memes and the internet.

5) How does Charlie Harding sum up the whole thing in the final part of the podcast transcript?

Absolutely. You know, Lil Nas X posted “Old Town Road” on SoundCloud. He actually in the metadata said it was a country song. So there’s a question about who gets to be the gatekeeper of declaring what genre you are. Really, I think we’re just seeing some casual or not-so-casual racism about who is and what isn’t country. I think that this gets much more complicated when we actually look at the sounds of contemporary country music — which doesn’t conform to that original classification of you have to have banjos and a certain sound or a certain twang, because there’s lots of contemporary music which is actually equally pulling from hip hop sounds, trap beats, 808s, all this and that

Now read this Salon feature on Lil Nas X and LGBTQ+ identity. Answer the following questions:

1) How did Lil Nas X announce his sexuality on social media?

on Sunday, rapper Lil Nas X of viral, genre-blurring country-trap “Old Town Road” fame came out as gay. In a series of tweets, he encouraged fans to listen to his song “c7osure,” which talks about coming clean about secrets and accepting oneself. 

2) Why does the article describe Old Town Road as 'genre-blurring'? 

As a genre-blurring artist whose breakthrough hit harnessed both hip hop and country sounds and fans, Lil Nas X's public declaration of his sexuality touches both genres. On the country side of the industry, LGBTQ visibility and celebration has come a long way in recent years. 

3) How has country music demonstrated the social change taking place in American culture and society? 

Country music has a long tradition of valorizing American political ideals like patriotism, liberty and opportunity. Yet music like Carlile's questions who — especially under an administration that openly opposes LGBTQ rights — has true access to those rights and who much of country music is made for. But with artists as critically and commercially dominant as Carlile and Lil Nas X starting and continuing conversations about queer representation and acceptance, the canon of country classics preaching other cherished American ideals — like inclusion and freedom through the lens of LGBTQ visibility and power — will hopefully continue to grow. 

Old Town Road textual analysis

1) How is the narrative features used in the music video? Apply narrative theory here.

binary oppositions-modern vs olden time period, the race (which is broken down in the ending of the video) , outsiders vs tight neighbourhood

stuart hall- the 3 main black characterises in American media, in the video this would be Chris rock playing the clown/entertainer

enigma and action codes- money bag, car and horse race 

 

2) What examples of genre conventions and intertextuality can you find in the video?

-tiktok dances- links to where the song blew up 

-western convention of line dancers 

-comedic references 

-classic country /western references-‘horses’ ‘hats and boots’ and cowboy outfits 

- rap/hip hop genre conventions: luxerary brand references ‘porsche’ ‘gucci, fendi etc’

3) How are technical codes used to create meanings in the video? Analyse camerawork, editing and mise-en-scene and make specific reference to moments in the video.

mise en scene- a lot of effort within the costume and setting in this video to fit the construction of the western ideas and convention futhermore to emphasise the contrast between old western times and modern town.

the camera work- gives a western feel to the video as it has been constructed in long/ medium shots which is a western genre convention

4) How are representations of race and ethnicity constructed in the video?

Stuart Hall theory that suggests there are three black characteristics in American media- the clown/entertainer fits the Chris Rock character which is seen in this

alvarado- key representations the humorous comedians -Chris Rock

Lil Nas X being the hero 

the references to hip hop genre 

the cookout(cultural aspects)

5) What other representations can you find in the video? You may wish to comment on gender, sexuality or America/American culture. 

Lil Nas X tweeting that he thought he made his sexuality “very obvious” through costuming etc he builds this idea around his sexuality that the audience can infer for example the pink suit in the music video.