Background and cultural contexts
Read this Vox feature and podcast transcript on Lil Nas X and Old Town Road. Make sure you read the whole thing - including the podcast transcript - then answer the following questions:
1) What is the big debate regarding Old Town Road and genre?
There is a big debate over whether the music video Old Town Road should be classified as country music as Billboards had removed it from the countries chart.
2) What do you learn about the background of Lil Nas X and Old Town Road from the podcast transcript?
Lil Nas X is a 20-year-old rapper from Atlanta, his birth name is Montero Hill, but he has been calling himself “Lil Nas X” for several years now. By the end of the year on December 3rd 2018 he released a song called “Old Town Road.” He was able to buy a beat that had country-sounding instrumental to it. The song came from how he was said he was living at home feeling very lonely, feeling like a lonely cowboy, and he decided to pair that feeling with this sort of twangy beat that he bought.
3) What is the Yeehaw agenda?
It started with this woman Bri Malandro, who tweeted about how a lot of black artists are getting interested in sort of the country aesthetic. Lil Nas X was able to factored into that is, while people were picking up on the good cowboy/cowgirl aesthetic, his song was circulating on Twitter and he made it available for free on TikTok, “Old Town Road” into the Yee Haw Challenge.
4) How did the story become a debate about race in America?
His song was on Billboards at number 19, you don't really see black artists on the country charts in general. It was takes down for not embracing enough elements. There have been some debate of a black artist in America who’s charting in a very white music space and his song gets quietly removed by a very powerful, influential organization. Country has often been very much protected where it prevents black artists from really penetrating the scene.
5) How does Charlie Harding sum up the whole thing in the final part of the podcast transcript?
He mentions how there is a history of country artists inviting black artists to perform with them. He also states that today people listen as much by mood as they do by genre, upending an entire way of thinking about the importance of these generic categories. He ends with how the meme that was commentary on cowboy culture and black identity that became an immediate overnight think piece which an aging country star then remixed.
Now read this Salon feature on Lil Nas X and LGBTQ+ identity. Answer the following questions:
1) How did Lil Nas X announce his sexuality on social media?
He announced it on twitter through his song c7osure where he tweeted "Some of y'all already know, some of y'all don't care...but before this month ends I want y'all to listen closely to c7osure," and punctuated the tweet with a rainbow emoji. He afterwards proceeded to post an illustration of his cowboy fit writing the captions of “deadass thought i made it obvious.”
2) Why does the article describe Old Town Road as 'genre-blurring'?
As he is an artist who breakthrough hit harnessed both hip hop and country sounds and fans by combining different genres.
3) How has country music demonstrated the social change taking place in American culture and society?
It has bought everyone to acceptance and understanding so that society brings no hate. It has helped make a movement where there is acceptance for LGBTQ country musicians toward supporting those musicians claiming their queer identities through their performances.
Old Town Road textual analysis
Watch the video again and answer the following questions. Use your notes from our in-class analysis to help you:
1) How is the narrative features used in the music video? Apply narrative theory here.
Binary oppositions:
-time period
-horse and car race
-costumes and props
-conflict=dance off
-race/ethnicity
Action and Enigma codes:
-gun reveal=classic western action code
-race, horse(hooves sparks) all action
Todorov:
-'in media res' = starts in middle off action
-multiple examples of disequilibrium
-ends with new equilibrium
-culture conviviality
Propp:
-Lil Nas X character as hero?
-Billy Ray Cyrus as helper/sidekick
-this subverts stereotypes towards race and age
2) What examples of genre conventions and intertextuality can you find in the video?
Intertextuality:
-Billy Ray Cyrus=country legend
-pink suit to subvert it
-rap genre=mariachi. porch, wrangler, Gucci, fender
-dialogue Compton
-car/horse scene=Lil Nas X tune in background
-back to the future (time travel)
-fast and furious= lots of pop culture
Celebrity cameo:
-Chris Rock out takes
-comedy pieces included
-Billy Ray Cyrus
3) How are technical codes used to create meanings in the video? Analyse camerawork, editing and mise-en-scene and make specific reference to moments in the video.
Opening scene:
-western move genre(dialogue)
-transition, title font, music and sfx
-social media/Tiktok=dancing, screen within screen
4) How are representations of race and ethnicity constructed in the video?
Race/ethnicity:
-almost entirely black cast
-'Yeehaw agenda'
-final scene predominantly white but also scene of cultural conviviality
-to appease mainstream white audience?
Genre:
-opening reinforces gender stereotypes
-mainly subverts traditional masculinity 'Marlbar man'
-pink suit, Lil Nas X's jacket= modern masculinity
LGBTQ:
-clothing bright, blinding
-Lil Nas X open about sexuality
-not explicit? but alluded to it
America:
-white picket fence
-cultural conviviality
-American white dream street but all black people living there
5) What other representations can you find in the video? You may wish to comment on gender, sexuality or America/American culture.
Throughout the music video we are introduced to various cowboys, mostly focusing on the 'yeehaw' agenda that has provided black cowboys to appear in their own aesthetic. However there has been no visual representation of female cowboys, there are many female actors such as the girl who had a dance off with Lil Nas X but that was it.
Old Town Road Media Factsheet
Finally, read Media Factsheet #262 - Old Town Road. You'll need to log in to Google using your Greenford Google account to access this. Read the factsheet and answer the following questions:
1) Who are the celebrities that appear in cameos in the video?
It featured from comedians Chris Rock and Haha Davis, rappers Vince Staples and Rico Nasty, songwriter Jozzy, producer Youngkio, and DJ Diplo.
2) Choose three of the key terms defined on the first page of the factsheet and write the definitions here. Focus on terms you are unfamiliar with.
Archetypal- this is a representation that is associated or very typical towards a person, place or thing.
Double consciousness- the idea that conflicting racial identities can exist within an individual.
Cultural Myth- deeper ideologies that have been shaped through cultural coding through connotations over time.
3) How did Lil Nas X use social media to boost his own popularity and the success of the video?
He had a huge knowledge of social media where he had an anonymous account following Niki Minaj part of the fan base called Barbz. He admitted to owning the account by replying 'didn't want people to know im gay' in order to gain marketing and promotions before releasing his music. He also X listed the song on iTunes and SoundCloud as country not rap, utilised search-engine optimisation,
4) Look at the video analysis on page 3. What conventions of the western can be found in the video?
The use of setting is seen as important where it has a traditional western use of deserted rocky, uninhabited landscape. The use of the horse is a huge convention that cowboys used as well as the importance of costume.
5) How does the video begin?
It starts in media res showing Lil Nas X riding through rugged countryside of the outback being chased by the sheriff and his deputies.
6) What does the factsheet suggest regarding the modern-day part of the video?
It juxtaposes the wild west where it shows the streets of Los Angeles. The area is filmed in slow motion for the audience to intake the change in setting. There is a high contrast between items in the modern day such as cars and phones.
7) How can the video be read as a reinforcement of capitalism and the American dream?
The scene where Lil Nas X clutches the money bag with a dollar sign on it constructs a hyperreality of the American dream where everyone should have equal access when it comes to money and success.
8) How does the factsheet suggest the video creates a hyperreality?
It suggest how Los Angeles represents a land of opportunities and fairness this is shown through the example of the car race where Lil Nas X beats the car with his horse earning his some cash. This may seem impossible but shows a great example of how money can be won fair and square.
9) How is masculinity represented in the video?
Masculinity is only reinforced once in the vide where the father comes out looking tough to shoot down Lil Nas X. However, throughout the rest of it, it is subverted through the costumes that seem feminine such as the white straight male Billy Cyrus comes out wearing a punk cowboy suit while Lil Nas is in an all black sparkly, very decorated one. This only illustrates how this new form of masculinity sets the artist apart from other rap and country starts to show how certain colours and styles do not restrict people from wearing what they want.
10) Look at the final page. What theories are suggested for this CSP and which do you think are the most useful?
Judith Butlers theory is useful as it draws attention to gender showing how stereotypical conventions of femininity can be seen on male cowboys. David Gauntlet's identity theory can express representation towards masculinity where audience have more influence in what identity they wish to portray. It also helps marginalised groups like gay, black country and rap artists get a better representation and mainstream exposure. Paul Gilroy's idea of double consciousness is seen through the artist Lil Nas X struggle with sexuality and Christianity where he tries to break the white centric genre of country as well as western music. Stuart Hall has a concept on transcoding stereotypes suggesting towards the artists and how he subverts aggressive black male stereotypes especially in regard to the violent, misogynistic, homophobic rap star.
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