Billy Ray Cyrusis defending his decision to join Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road.”
After the rapper’s viral country-trap song wasremoved fromBillboard’s Hot Country chart, Cyrus, 57, spoke out about whether or not the song should be classified as “country.” In a statement toRolling Stone,Billboardsaid the track “does not embrace enough elements of today’s country music to chart in its current version.”
“It was so obvious to me after hearing the song just one time,” Cyrus wroteon TwitterFriday. “I was thinking, what’s not country about it? What’s the rudimentary element of a country and western song? Then I thought, it’s honest, humble, and has an infectious hook, and a banjo. What the hell more do ya need?”
After the 19-year-old rapperrecruited Cyrus to make a remix, the revamped version went viral on the Internet.
Billy Ray Cyrus and Lil Nas X.Lil Nas X/Instagram
In a follow-up tweet, Cyrus recalled how he recorded the remix with his own twist. “A few days passed and I went to the studio to do vocals,” he wrote. “When I finished the pass, I whistled at the end of the song. Thats when the engineer stood up and said, ‘that s— is fire.’ We’re keeping that! Glad you guys are diggin’ the tune, love seeing all your meme’s [sic].”
Billy Ray Cyrus/Twitter
Other country stars have also spoken out about the song.
“Let the fans decide. I mean, country music — I go back to guys like Johnny Cash when he showed up in Nashville, they said that is not country music,” Rich said. “The guy made his records in Memphis where rock and roll was happening — he’s got his hair slicked back, he’s singing about sex, drugs and rock and roll.”
“Johnny Cash, most hardcore lyrics anybody had ever heard — he’s not country — now Johnny Cash, a pillar of country music,” he said.
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“I don’t like people that try to piggyback on real country music,” Rich continued. “So, I think if you really want to be a country artist, then be one — come to Nashville, write your music, really come up with something that’s fitting somewhere around country music.”
The collaboration between Cyrus and Lil Nas X seemed destined to happen. Back in December, Lil Nas X shared a video of himself listening to “Old Town Road” and wrote, “Twitter please help me get billy ray cyrus on this.”
On Wednesday, Cyrustweetedat the rapper, “Been watching everything going on with OTR. When I got thrown off the charts, Waylon Jennings said to me ‘Take this as a compliment’ means you’re doing something great! Only Outlaws are outlawed. Welcome to the club!”
Lil Nas Xfirst shared the newsthat the song had been taken off theBillboardcountry chart in late March, when he posted a screenshot of an article with the caption, “Extremely disappointed.”
source: people.com
