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?
The big debate is is it a rap song or a country song.
2) What do you learn about the background of Lil Nas X and Old Town Road from the podcast transcript?
He had found fans through his popular meme-filled Twitter presence and a fast-growing TikTok meme dubbed the “Yee Haw Challenge” that centered on the song.
3) What is the Yeehaw agenda?
It talks about how many black cowboys there were and how they aren't typically presented in the media.
4) How did the story become a debate about race in America?
The debate arose form the fact that country music is mostly a white genre and Lil Nas X is a black teenager. The reclassification happened because he was a black man making white music some debated.
5) How does Charlie Harding sum up the whole thing in the final part of the podcast transcript?
Absolutely. We have to also point out how amazing it is that this thing which was a meme that was commentary on cowboy culture and black identity that became an immediate overnight think piece which an aging country star then remixed. Like, this thing is entirely of our moment. This is not old country music of a rural community. This is the internet generation.
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?
Through a tweet saying "deadass thought i made it obvious".
2) Why does the article describe Old Town Road as 'genre-blurring'?
Lil Nas X's public declaration of his sexuality touches both genres. On the country side of the industry, LGBTQ visibility and celebration has come a long way in recent years.
3) How has country music demonstrated the social change taking place in American culture and society?
Loads of country music celebrities are coming out or even changing their song to be more woke.
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 opposition: Western vs Modern, Rap music vs Country music.
- Action codes: shooting, gun being cocked, whip sound
- Enigma codes: Time travel, the tunnel
- Propp: Hero & Villain
2) What examples of genre conventions and intertextuality can you find in the video?
- Intertextuality: name check brands which are significant to rap, Hip Hop culture, line dancing, bingo hall, country genre vs hip hop genre, hood, rap genre.
- Celebrity Cameos
- Music genre: hybridity: postmodern text
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.
- Costume: Cowboy outfit used to create meaning of the western, modern clothing used to represent current fashion.
- Camerawork: Fast paced(montage) in order to appeal to the digital culture and keep interest.
- Lighting: High key
- Props: Cars and horse used to create old vs new meaning
- Editing: Uses fades and many cuts.
4) How are representations of race and ethnicity constructed in the video?
While Lil Nas X is singing it only shows Black extras which links to the fact that rap/ hip hop are usually associated with Black rappers, and when Billy Ray Cyrus was singing it showed white people at a bingo hall line dancing and stereotypically, country music is associated with white artists.
5) What other representations can you find in the video? You may wish to comment on gender, sexuality or America/American culture.
Lil Nas X is open about his sexuallity which might make us see the video in a diffrent way.
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?
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
A representation that is very typical of a person, place or thing.
Cultural Myth
Deeper ideologies that have been shaped through cultural coding through connotations over time.
Mytheme
Small units of narrative in cultural products; such as theme, character and action, the study of which can reveal the dominant ideas and values of culture.
3) How did Lil Nas X use social media to boost his own popularity and the success of the video?
Through the use of interaction bait, meams, viral threads, and Nicki Minaj stanning, he was able to acquire a six-figure Twitter following—a technique known as tweetdecking.
4) Look at the video analysis on page 3. What conventions of the western can be found in the video?
The use of the horse is a convention since cowboys in westerns usually tend to be riding horses.
5) How does the video begin?
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 contrasts the wild west with the streets of Los Angeles. To give the audience a sense of the location change, the scene is recorded in slow motion. Modern products, like vehicles and phones, are very different from one another.
7) How can the video be read as a reinforcement of capitalism and the American dream?
The Maserati car, the dollar sign, diamonds, rhinestones, the Super Mall, flashy suits and high-end sunglasses connote the capitalist nature of America.
8) How does the factsheet suggest the video creates a hyperreality?
The factsheet suggests that through the signifiers of affluence visible throughout the film, the cultural conviviality exhibited in the closing generates a hyperreality of inclusivity and community, as well as a hyperreality of the American ideal.
9) How is masculinity represented in the video?
Masculinity is subverted in this video is through the costumes. Billy Ray Cyrus and Lil Nas X are both dressed in eye-catching, colourful suits that are more often associated with women's fashion than with traditional men's attire.
10) Look at the final page. What theories are suggested for this CSP and which do you think are the most useful?
According to David Gauntlett's identity theory, viewers have more identity models to aspire to when they see more diverse and complex portrayals of masculinity. Furthermore, if marginalised depictions of black country, LGBT, and rap artists gain mainstream recognition and acceptance, it may open doors for further artists from these communities.
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