Redefining the Idea of Country Rap: 'Old Town Road' by Lil Nas X
The unique country rap synthesis that created a sensation.
Irrespective of the fact you are a country/rap fan or not, you surely must have heard the catchy tunes of ‘Old town Road’ by Lil Nas X. This wildly loopable song became the longest-running number one in US chart history, defying categorisation in the music industry. It not just spread an idea, but dominated the music charts with 'The stickiness factor.'
This wasn’t the first attempt of country rap in the music industry, however, the unique effort to make this marginalised genre spread by synthesizing country and rap is what made it a sensation. Nobody knew about it’s existence until Lil Nas’s brought it to everyones notice and popularised it. This shows just having an idea isn't enough, using appropriate 'connectors, mavens and salesmen' as mentioned by Malcolm Gladwell in his book 'The Tipping Point' is what leaves a mark.
Seth Godin in his TED talk explains the importance of ‘Otaku’ as a secret to your marketing success. So, let’s discuss how Lil Nas employed this Otaku and 'The Tipping Point' teachings to instigate an evolution of Country Rap and learn a few things to employ as a marketer in the process.
With the help of beatstar, a platform to buy and sell beats, Lil Nas found a country track beat by Young Kiyo, which is basically A banjo in Nine Inch Nails ghost four. The best part? He bought it for less that 50 bucks.
Lil Nas always wanted to become an internet personality, for that he aced the art of audience attraction by creating memes.
How did he plant the idea?
He first released the track on iTunes and soundtrack with #country as it’s genre, rather than hip hop, scheming the algorithm which was acceptable since the song is in fact between country and trap! He not only used memes to promote his song but used the original video to create a montage of clips of the new action-adventure game Red Dead Redemption 2, an on-going trend of Cowboy memes because of his very song, paving new pathways to the idea to spread. These people then became what Gladwell calls, 'The connectors'.
He then jumped on to Twitter a day after his song release, engaging with the audience and asking them to help him feature Billy Ray Cyrus, a country music singer, on his single.
Moreover, he was constantly self-prompting his song through Reddit posts like “What’s the name of the song that goes ‘take my horse to the old town road’ manipulating the Search Engine Optimisation, which could help people who are asking the same question, connecting to 'the Mavens' while doing so.
After reaching 8 million plays by January, thanks to the 'Otaku' the idea became only bigger. The song crossed all levels by entering TikTok, creating #TheFarmerChallenge where people dressed up as cowboys and cowgirls. All these unique promotion tactics on different platforms for different crowds, led it to enter billboard Chart on not just one list, but three.
Becoming a victim of the black artist controversy, Billboard removed his song from it’s top 100 hot list and later on from the Hot Country Chart for not being country enough. However, Billy Ray Cyrus came to his rescue acting as the 'salesmen/persuader' which was possible only with the help of the connectors and mavens.
They later collaborated and created a new remix version of this wildfire trend of a song. This was the second phase of burning popularity the song received, a 143 million streams in the first week itself! No controversy could stop this song from reaching number one on Hot 100.
Lil Nas planned and planted the idea so effectively optimising all the marketing tools and tactics, that it teaches us the importance of people to spread an idea. Moreover, it also highlights the time factor with regards to implementing these tactics.
Just as one version was about to die down, another version of 'Old Town Road' was created to always keep it on people's minds. His frequent re-release helped the track maintain its first position beating famous artists! As seth Godin said, ‘Safe is Risky’, following that Nas knew internet trends and didn’t limit to one genre and attempted everything possible to become the online personality he once wanted to become. One of his many versions also features RM from BTS.
He reached to the top by literally forcing himself in the audience’s mind by spreading an idea which was unknown to the audience. One thing we learn for sure is, $50 and internet can take you a long way in life!
Below are the 5 versions of Old Town Road!
Original
2. ft. Billy Ray Cyrus
3. feat. RM of BTS
4. Diplo Remix
5. Young Thug & Mason Ramsey
Hi Sabrina,
Agreed! Social media is the key to success. The right implementation of the same could create history, just like it did with Old Town Road!
Hi Sarvagya,
I know, right? So many artists have started re-creating their songs after this. Lil Nas has really helped other artists and instigated a change. This helps them expand their Target audience too. There's something for everyone, right from Kpop and EDM to Original Country!
Hi Ellie,
So true. The controversies can really be a challenging factor. However, In this case it really worked in his favour. Lil Nas faced his own share of controversies, however, I believe in music any publicity is good as it builds the curiosity factor. However, this doesn't stand true for the other brands though and might actually impact the brand image.
Hi Marcus,
Definitely! I am myself amazed by the work done by him to create his own personal brand which he really achieved, just by understanding the marketing tools. So many brands could learn from him and his tactics. Makes me also think if it is okay at times to be upfront with your tactics than the subtle promotions to sell your idea.
Hi Riya,
This is a really interesting insight on the music industry and how it takes a village to create a hit song! It shows how cultural industries like music labels have close connections with the digital industries-particularly social media to be able to sell intangible products (music) to consumers. Like the cultural economy, the social media ecosystem is vast and made up of different platforms and personalities- from influencers and mavens to loyal and new followers who would spend money to buy music.