The Shrine

Loving this lately, and the story behind it.



Lil' Nas X records a hip-hop country jam out of nowhere on SoundCloud that becomes the #1 song in the United States. Billboard allows it on the mainstream charts, but yanks it off country charts after a week, claiming it "does not contain enough country elements in its current version" - which many people interpreted as "get this black music off our country charts".

Enter Billy Ray Cyrus, out of nowhere, looking like a forgotten mountain man and feeling the track himself. Apparently Billy Ray was also kicked off the country charts at one point - and messages LNX up on Twitter, welcoming him to the "outlaw club", as he claims Waylon Jennings once did to him when his own music was declared unfit for country - and eventually offers/is invited to feature on the track, which came out even better than the original and is re-storming the charts again.

Billboard is now basically fucked. If they re-allow the Billy Ray feature version on the country charts, they basically confirm the notion that the original was disallowed for not being white enough and look like huge racists. If they keep it off the country charts, period, they make an absolute mockery of their charts by disallowing the first country song in years not just to dominate the country charts but the overall #1 position in the United States for two months now or more.

Never been a Billy Ray fan, but he made me one with this act. It's the most outlaw-country shit he's ever done himself, he just helped Lil' Nas X become a bonafide star and get signed, and it all amounts to shots fired against a certain very complacent section of country music that's neglected the black artists in their midst for years.

I love it.

Most Country Rap is trash, this one is decent, little short though 3/5.

Billboard controversy is kinda BS, half the shit on Country radio kinda pushes what I'd really classify as country, especially some of the modern pop country stuff.

Still even if it's not on the Billboard I'm surprised to hear it on country stations still in Louisiana of all places heh.

I feel like the verses are whatever, but that the chorus is iconic and could be sung by half a dozen country singers or more without losing the freshness.

As for Billboard, they just look out of touch at best, semi-racist at worst. Like Billy Ray said about its genre classification - "It's honest, catchy and has a banjo, what more do you need?"

Fun facts: The song actually gives both Billy Ray Cyrus and Trent Reznor - who did the song the banjo sample is taken from - their first credits on a #1 single ever.

I tend to like hick-hop myself...always thought that was the catchiest name for the genre: