Can’t nobody tell me nothing.” “You hear that? That’s ‘Old Town Road,’ Lil Nas X’s big hit, and it was tearing up the country charts until Billboard pulled it off for not being country enough.” “Oh, whoa, whoa, whoa, now. We won.” “We passed the biggest songs out, and we just passed it, like it’s nothing.” “(SINGING) You can’t tell me nothing. Ridin’ on a horse -” “Once it hit Tik Tok, and it was going viral, I was like, O.K. It went crazy.” “(SINGING) I got the horses in the back.” “Everyone was dressed like a cowboy for, like, three weeks.” “(SINGING) Got the boots that’s black to match. I have a hard time explaining it to anyone that’s like, so you make money how? I’m like, I dance on camera.” “Are you the first person to post ‘Old Town Road’ on Tik Tok?” “Yeah. Horse tack is attached.” “It’s 15 second videos. I feel like it was meant to be, you know? Me finding him right on time.” “(SINGING) I got the horses in the back. No.” “You didn’t know who he was?” “I didn’t know who he was. Kio.” “So you’d never met Nas X before?” “Never. I think it was a girl who sent me a meme, and she was like, hey, I heard you’re producer tag.” “Kio. That’s embarrassing.” “I didn’t really know the song existed. Because I knew that’s what people were gonna search.
#Who sings little do you know how to
I had to learn how to use it, you know, in my own way.” “I saw you made that post on Reddit where you were, like, what’s that song that goes, I’m gonna take my horse to the old town road?” “Yeah, I did that. The internet is basically, like, my parents, in a way. Like, I’ve been - I’ve been pushing this hard. This song is - this song is kind of hard.” “(SINGING) I got the horses in the back.” “It put the black yeehaw agenda and the song together, and it just - shot off.” “A lot of people like to say, you know, it was, like, a kid accidentally got it. Somebody put his song over a video that I already did. I got the horses in the back -” “I randomly found it on Twitter. (SINGING) I’m gonna take my horse to the old town road. From the very night I released ‘Old Town Road’ on Twitter, this song was already, like, moving.
#Who sings little do you know full
Like, I was pushing my music through the internet, like, full time. Wrangler on my booty.” “Did you have a job at the time? Were you working?” “No, I was not working. I knew ‘Old Town Road’ had to have some kind of funny lyrics, just to keep people entertained. But, like, if I had to choose which one it’s more leaning towards, it would definitely be country. The beat was just speaking to me, you know? I was, like, this song’s gonna be great.” “Did you conceive of the song as a country rap song?” “Country trap. I would just go through, like, 100 beats.” “It’s really just luck that people just find your stuff, you know? It’s really luck.” “I found the beat on, like, Halloween night. But they have - they make some really good music, you know?” “I always get my beats, like, from YouTube. That’s why I made the track.” “Who wrote the sample?” “It was Nine Inch Nails.” “But I had never heard of Nine Inch Nails before. So I can, like, put out, like, 10 a day, you know?” “The banjos, you know? It really just hits me. It’s just, like, a desk with two monitors, and I’m just selling my beats online. I live in a small town next to Amsterdam. Like, making studios out of those.” “Well, I’m from the Netherlands. Got the boots that’s black to match.” “No! No!” “So you were just, like, throwing stuff up on SoundCloud that you recorded in your bedroom?” “Either in the closet of my bedroom, or the closet in my grandma’s house. Yeah, I always make beats in this.” “Play the number one song in the world.” “O.K. How you doing?” “Yo, what’s up?” “I like your robe.” “Thanks. Cyrus, how are you?” “I’m doing good, Joe. What’s going on?” “Everything’s going on.” “Everything is going on.
Transcript ‘Old Town Road’: See How Memes and Controversy Took Lil Nas X to the Top of the Charts Watch how an unknown Atlanta artist used his meme-making skills and a country-trap beat from the Netherlands to bring “Old Town Road” to the top of the Billboard charts.