What a great accomplishment for someone so young! The Old Town Road singer, Lil Nas X, has landed on the cover of Time magazine while Tim McGraw and Jon Meacham teamed up to write an article that discusses country music’s role in politics and diversity.
Here is the cover, which Lil Nas X posted on his Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/p/B1L4XdvlDST/
In the magazine, he discusses the uphill battle he’s faced trying to get Old Town Road on country radio. The song continues to break records on the charts, but it wasn’t like that in the beginning. Lil Nas X said “I was doing radio tours, and one guy looked me in the eye and said, ‘I love the song, but I don’t think I’ll play it,'” the rapper recalls. “The perception was that the audience wouldn’t accept an African-American singer.”
In the magazine, Tim McGraw and Jon Meacham also discussed that issue in country music. The pair wrote “Country is in the midst of a renewed debate over the nature of its sound and the related question of who counts as part of its club. … In some ways, these questions are not so different from the ones the broader nation is asking itself in the age of Trump… The answer, much like the music itself, is more complicated than ever its fans tend to realize.”
Lil Nas X proved to everyone that doubted him that a “black queer” star can make it in both country music and also in hip-hop. At just 20-years old, he is paving the way for others to follow in his footsteps and step in the realm of country and hip-hop coming together. Maybe we will expect more country/hip-hop hits from Lil Nas X soon!
