No one could have predicted the strange order of events that transpired in 2019 leading to the explosive success of the country-trap hit "Old Town Road" and its then 20 year old mastermind, Montero Lamar Hill, better known as Lil Nas X. What appeared to be a trite number ended up rewriting pop music and cultural history, as well as setting records — including the all-important tally of consecutive weeks at Number 1 on the Billboard Top 100, lasting 19 weeks before being dethroned by Billie Eilish. But the apparent simplicity of the lyrics holds a deeper meaning. According to Time, Hill wrote the song while staying at his sister's house after dropping out of college, a move that his parents weren't too pumped about. He told the publication,
"'Old Town Road' came after a period of feeling like I was out of options. I was living with my sister. She was pretty much fed up with me being there. That's where the chorus lyric came from. It was me saying, 'I want to leave everything behind.'"
Until then, the life Lil Nas X was so desperate to leave was focused more on praising other celebrities than manifesting his own, according to The Oprah Magazine. At the time, he ran multiple Twitter accounts honoring his favorite rappers — Nas and Nicki Minaj — and the outlet helped the young man find his own voice. In a way, his Twitter threads were his first, well, "horses in the back." As Lil Nas X explained to Genius:
"It's basically, 'I got this. I have these little things right here, and I'm getting them ready to go.'"
Despite having caught the ire of most of his immediate family, Lil Nas X refused to deviate from his creative mission, spurred onward with newfound confidence. In his words, the verse about having, quote, "been in the valley" is an acknowledgement that others in the industry started out with more resources, but the trials he faced would forge his road to success.
At the time of "Old Town Road's" recording, Lil Nas X's desire to pursue an entertainment career over college had led to, in his words, a "practically nonexistent" relationship with his mother, adding to an already stressful situation of facing post-dropout career prospects. He ended up taking a jab at his parents, who doubted his chances and wanted him to return to school, when he wrote the lyric:
"Can't nobody tell me nothing."
Elaborating on this remark to The New York Times, Lil Nas X described feeling like, quote, "a loner cowboy," desperate to saddle up his horse to the proverbial Old Town Road and run away.
In the first verse, he's ready to begin his journey.
The second verse is his envisioned success, with a few tongue-in-cheek references to a more "Hollywood" lifestyle. He sips lean beneath an imagined Gucci cowboy hat while ghost riding his gleaming John Deere tractor. His nights are filled with unabashed infidelity, a blur of bull riding and boobies — an image he conjured after watching Dallas Buyers Club, according to Genius.
From there, Billy Ray Cyrus takes the glitzy imagery further, and Nas tells Genius that this verse represents the realization that he's made it, with Cyrus providing the lyrical affirmation. He's at a point where his success is, in his words, "limitless." With no more stress, there's nothing left to do but kick back like the Marlboro Man and keep on riding in his brand new sports car.
Deeper meaning and all, one could argue that "Old Town Road's" lyrics aren't exactly poetry. But the meaning that comes with an openly gay young black male crossing over from rap into country with the most successful song of all time? That's about as as poetic as it gets. Yeehaw!
#LilNasX #OldTownRoad
0 Comments