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How Lil Nas X Took ‘Old Town Road’ From TikTok Meme to No. 1 | Diary of a Song - YouTube
Channel: The New York Times
[2]
“Hey.
[3]
What’s going on?”
[4]
“Everything’s going on.”
[5]
“Everything is going on.
[6]
Mr. Cyrus, how are you?”
[8]
“I’m doing good, Joe.
[9]
How you doing?”
[10]
“Yo, what’s up?”
[11]
“I like your robe.”
[12]
“Thanks.”
[13]
“Yeah, I always
make beats in this.”
[15]
“Play the number one
song in the world.”
[17]
“O.K. Let’s hear 'Old
Town Road' by Lil Nas X.
[20]
(SINGING) I got the
horses in the back.
[22]
Horse tack is attached.
[24]
Hat is matte black.
[26]
Got the boots that’s
black to match.”
[29]
“No!
[30]
No!”
[31]
“So you were just,
like, throwing stuff up
[33]
on SoundCloud that you
recorded in your bedroom?”
[35]
“Either in the
closet of my bedroom,
[37]
or the closet in
my grandma’s house.
[40]
Like, making studios
out of those.”
[42]
“Well, I’m from
the Netherlands.
[44]
I live in a small town
next to Amsterdam.
[46]
This is where I make my beats.
[50]
It’s just, like, a
desk with two monitors,
[53]
and I’m just selling
my beats online.
[55]
I can make quality
beats really fast.
[57]
So I can, like, put out,
like, 10 a day, you know?”
[60]
[music]
[67]
“Banjos, you know?
[67]
It really just hits me.
[69]
That’s why I made the track.”
[70]
“Who wrote the sample?”
[72]
“It was Nine Inch Nails.”
[74]
[music]
[78]
“But I had never heard of
Nine Inch Nails before.
[81]
But they have — they make some
really good music, you know?”
[84]
“I always get my beats,
like, from YouTube.
[87]
I would just go through,
like, 100 beats.”
[89]
“It’s really just luck that
people just find your stuff,
[92]
you know?
[92]
It’s really luck.”
[94]
“I found the beat on,
like, Halloween night.
[96]
The beat was just
speaking to me, you know?
[98]
I was, like, this
song’s gonna be great.”
[100]
“Did you conceive of the
song as a country rap song?”
[104]
“Country trap.
[105]
But, like, if I had to
choose which one it’s more
[108]
leaning towards, it would
definitely be country.
[110]
I got the horses in the back.
[112]
Horse tack is attached.
[114]
Hat is matte black.
[116]
Got the boots that’s
black to match.
[117]
I knew 'Old Town
Road' had to have
[119]
some kind of
funny lyrics, just
[121]
to keep people entertained.
[122]
Cowboy hat from Gucci.
[124]
Wrangler on my booty.”
[126]
“Did you have a
job at the time?
[127]
Were you working?”
[128]
“No, I was not working.
[129]
Like, I was pushing my music
through the internet, like,
[132]
full time.
[133]
From the very night I released
'Old Town Road' on Twitter,
[138]
this song was
already, like, moving.
[140]
(SINGING) I’m gonna take my
horse to the old town road.
[142]
I’m gonna ride till
I can’t no more.
[146]
I got the horses
in the back — “
[148]
“I randomly found
it on Twitter.
[149]
Somebody put his song over
a video that I already did.
[153]
And then I was like, hold on.
[154]
This song is — this
song is kind of hard.”
[157]
“(SINGING) I got the
horses in the back.”
[158]
“It put the black yeehaw
agenda and the song together,
[163]
and it just —
[165]
shot off.”
[166]
“A lot of people like to
say, you know, it was,
[168]
like, a kid
accidentally got it.
[171]
It’s like, no, this
is no accident.
[173]
Like, I’ve been —
[174]
I’ve been pushing this hard.
[178]
The internet is basically,
like, my parents, in a way.
[180]
I was raised
picking up on stuff.
[183]
I had to learn how to use
it, you know, in my own way.”
[187]
“I saw you made that post on
Reddit where you were, like,
[189]
what’s that song
that goes, I’m
[191]
gonna take my horse
to the old town road?”
[192]
“Yeah, I did that.
[193]
Because I knew that’s what
people were gonna search.
[196]
Oh, my god.
[197]
That’s embarrassing.”
[199]
“I didn’t really know
the song existed.
[201]
I think it was a girl
who sent me a meme,
[202]
and she was like,
hey, I heard you’re
[204]
producer tag.”
[205]
“Kio.
[206]
Kio.”
[207]
“So you’d never
met Nas X before?”
[209]
“Never.
[209]
No.”
[210]
“You didn’t know who he was?”
[210]
“I didn’t know who he was.
[212]
Nothing.
[213]
I feel like it was
meant to be, you know?
[215]
Me finding him right on time.”
[218]
“(SINGING) I got the
horses in the back.
[220]
Horse tack is attached.”
[222]
“It’s 15 second videos.
[223]
I have a hard time explaining
it to anyone that’s like,
[226]
so you make money how?
[227]
I’m like, I dance on camera.”
[232]
“Are you the first person
to post 'Old Town Road'
[234]
on Tik Tok?”
[236]
It went [bleep] crazy.”
[238]
“(SINGING) I got the
horses in the back.”
[240]
“Everyone was
dressed like a cowboy
[241]
for, like, three weeks.”
[243]
“(SINGING) Got the boots
that’s black to match.
[246]
Ridin' on a horse — “
[247]
“Once it hit Tik Tok, and it
was going viral, I was like,
[249]
O.K. We won.”
[252]
“We passed the
biggest songs out,
[254]
and we just passed it,
like it’s nothing.”
[257]
“(SINGING) You can’t
tell me nothing.
[260]
Can’t nobody tell me nothing.”
[261]
“You hear that?
[263]
That’s 'Old Town Road,'
Lil Nas X’s big hit,
[266]
and it was tearing up
the country charts until
[268]
Billboard pulled it off for
not being country enough.”
[271]
“Oh, whoa, whoa, whoa, now.
[272]
You got too much
dip on your chip.”
[275]
“Do you think there’s a racial
element to 'Old Town Road'
[277]
being removed from
the country chart?”
[280]
“I see it as more
of, like, a —
[282]
we let certain things
slide, but maybe this one
[285]
is too different.
[286]
If we allow this, who knows?”
[290]
“I was really mad, because if
it didn’t go off the charts,
[294]
it would be,
like, number one.”
[299]
“Billy Ray, tell me when you
first heard 'Old Town Road.’”
[301]
“I heard the song
on March the 16th.”
[305]
“Who played it for you?”
[307]
“Tish.”
[308]
“That’s your wife?”
[309]
“Yep.
[309]
And we were having
our morning coffee,
[311]
and she got a call, I think,
from Ron Perry at the record
[315]
label.
[316]
And he said, hey,
we’ve got this thing,
[317]
we’d love for your
husband to hear it.
[319]
And I actually stood
up out of my chair.
[322]
I stood up and go,
god, I love that.
[324]
That dude is original.”
[326]
“If you go to my past tweets,
like, two days after I
[328]
put out the song, I’m like,
Twitter, please help me
[330]
get Billy Ray on there.
[331]
Because I was, like,
Billy Ray Cyrus
[333]
would be perfect for this.”
[335]
“(SINGING) Hat down,
crosstown, living like a rockstar.
[338]
Spend a lot of money on my — “
[340]
“Billy Ray, where’s 'Old
Town Road' on the charts
[342]
right now?”
[342]
“Which charts?”
[344]
“The main chart.
[344]
The Billboard Hot 100.”
[346]
“Oh, 'Old Town Road'
is number one.”
[349]
“Yeah, I’m gonna take my
horse to the old town road.
[353]
I’m gonna ride till
I can’t no more.”
[357]
“It’s my beats, you know?
[359]
I just made it
here, in my bedroom,
[361]
and now the whole entire
planet is listening to it.”
[365]
“Ridin' on a horse.”
[366]
“I can’t go down the street
without hearing that song
[369]
at all.
[370]
From the internet,
which is amazing.”
[372]
“(SINGING) Can’t nobody
tell me nothing.”
[374]
“Every now and then, a song
like that comes around,
[377]
and I count my blessings
that they reached out to me,
[379]
and just let me be a
part of this moment.”
[382]
“Are you ready to play
it a million times
[384]
for the rest of your life?”
[385]
“Yes.
[385]
I’m gonna play this song —
[387]
this is my life
song at this point.”
[390]
“(SINGING) I’m gonna ride
till I can’t no more.
[392]
Yeah, I’m gonna
take my horse — “
[394]
“Do you have plans
to come to the U.S.?”
[395]
“Yeah.
[396]
Yeah, of course.
[396]
But I’m, like,
gonna let you know,
[398]
so I can’t just drop
everything, and just
[401]
go there.”
[403]
“(SINGING) I’m gonna ride — “
[404]
“Have you ever
ridden a horse?”
[405]
“Not yet.”
[407]
“That’s the craziest part.”
[408]
“Maybe in the music video?”
[411]
“Oh, of course.
[412]
Come on, now.”
[414]
[horse neighing]
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