Boys in the Basement Music Review

i feel heaven when you’re here with me,

So about a week ago (hits Bobby Shmurda dance) I hear something about this song getting taken off the Billboard Country Charts. I’m like 🤔…hella think face emoji…maybe Billboard just hating on some random country artist. But I pull up the interwebs and find out it’s a song called Old Town Road, by a black kid! That’s wassup! Black people out here taking over country n shit. Scroll through my Instagram, come to find out, even more people talking about this Old Town Road song. And then, they’re saying it’s a bop! At this point I’m intrigued. I go to listen, the next thing I thinking is…IF THIS A COUNTRY SONG THIS SHIT BANG. Buuuuutttttt, my Millennial attention span kick in and I go back to doing what I was doing and not really thinking about the song. 

Today (April 5) I see that Billy Ray Cyrus hopped on the remix to Old Town Road. Sidenote: Shout out to the Cyrus family for being culture vultures. But, now I gotta dig a little deeper into the song. I Google and see it’s by this kid named Lil Nas X. I know the name Childish Gambino came from a name generator but damn! This name takes the cake. Anyway, I scroll through his Wiki page. It’s short, but has just enough information on it. The kid started off as a memer and fan page maker. Then, his pages got a big enough following that some people suggested he start making music. After a few Soundcloud uploads or more, the world got Old Tow Road. 

It’s crazy how meme rap has become a thing. Jermaine Cole said it best, “Some n-ggas make millions, other n-ggas make memes.”  Lately, social media has been powering the music industry in a wild new way. There is even  major label tactics to push an artist through memes. I’ve seen people who had popular Instagram accounts, for dancing and other things, garner so much attention that they began releasing rap music. I’m looking at you Roy Purdy. Basically, the game has changed and social media is a big part. 

I write all that to say that one reason Old Town Road grew to bigger national attention was because of the “Yeehaw Challenge.” If you know anything about anything you’ve probably heard of another challenge or two. This trend is nothing new but it looks like it hear to stay. But hey 🤷🏾‍♂️, if it helps make a few black people get this money, who am I to hate. 

Old Town Road has blown up over night. Like I said Billy Ray Cyrus is on the remix. NPR is writing think pieces about it. And in the paraphrased words of the great American poet Paul Michael Slayton, “The Internet is going nuts.” Welcome to 2019. Sometimes you just gotta sit back and enjoy it. Shout out to Lil Nas X. Get yo money, playboy. Now excuse me while I go look for my cowboy hat and boots. Bout to hit my square dance real quick. ✌🏾

Missy Elliott and Lil’ Kim on the music video set of “Sock it 2 me,” NYC 1997.