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?
Old town road defeats the genre. This is because its a black man singing country music but rapping. This has led to many debates whether this should be considered country music.
2) What do you learn about the background of Lil Nas X and Old Town Road from the podcast transcript?
He is a 20-year-old rapper from Atlanta. Technically his birth name is Montero Hill, but he has been calling himself “Lil Nas X” for several years now. And last year he joined SoundCloud, as many people do. And by the end of the year in December he released a song called “Old Town Road.”
He bought a beat that had this sort of country-sounding instrumental to it. And he 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. So “Old Town Road” starts off very much as this deep-voiced ode to the simple life on the dirt road path with your horse. And then it breaks into what he calls “country trap.”
3) What is the Yeehaw agenda?
This woman, Bri Malandro, tweeted about how a lot of black artists are getting interested in sort of the country aesthetic. And the way that Lil Nas X factored into that is, while people were picking up on the good ol’ cowboy/cowgirl aesthetic, his song was circulating on Twitter and he made it available for free on TikTok, which is this huge platform kind of akin to Vine where people can lip sync to songs and record themselves doing dance moves, and people who already were kind of feeling this kind of ironic cowboy vibe turned “Old Town Road” into the “Yee Haw Challenge.”
4) How did the story become a debate about race in America?
This happened because a country song is seen to be sung by a white person who grew up in the country. Lil Nas X singing this would mean that none of these agendas are met.
5) How does Charlie Harding sum up the whole thing in the final part of the podcast transcript?
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?
Coming out as gay on twitter.
2) Why does the article describe Old Town Road as 'genre-blurring'?
Modern gay black person singing a country song.
3) How has country music demonstrated the social change taking place in American culture and society?
LGBTQ+ star rapping a country song with the biggest country artist.
By 2014, the states that had legalized same-sex marriage cumulatively contained 70 percent of the U.S. population. Then, in 2015, U.S. Supreme Court struck down all state bans, making marriage equality the law of the land. And in the five years since, there has been an exciting movement past mere acceptance of LGBTQ country musicians toward supporting those musicians claiming (or reclaiming) 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.
starting off with lines and a setting makes it feel like a short movie.
2) What examples of genre conventions and intertextuality can you find in the video?
genre conventions:
country rap racing horses guns the setting.
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.
certain camera shots at the start seem like a western movie.
4) How are representations of race and ethnicity constructed in the video?
we are united by us being humans. However you didn't see any white people in the modern day part of the music video.
5) What other representations can you find in the video? You may wish to comment on gender, sexuality or America/American culture.
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
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.
Double consciousness-The idea that conflicting racial identities can
exist within an individual.
3) How did Lil Nas X use social media to boost his own popularity and the success of the video?
By trafficking in memes, viral threads, engagement bait, and Nicki Minaj stanning, he was able to create a six-digit follower base on Twitter, a process that is known a tweetdecking.
4) Look at the video analysis on page 3. What conventions of the western can be found in the video?
shows Lil Nas X riding through rugged countryside of the outback being chased by the sheriff and his deputies.
Traditional westerns used deserted rocky, uninhabited settings
5) How does the video begin?
The exposition of the video starts in media res (in the middle of action) and shows 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?
They are quickly embraced by the civilised people, there are no guns, no violence and no threatening behaviours.
7) How can the video be read as a reinforcement of capitalism and the American dream?
capitalism: the car and the money. High valued material.
American dream: the horses the racing.
8) How does the factsheet suggest the video creates a hyperreality?
showing two positions from the 1800s to modern day.
9) How is masculinity represented in the video?
Masculinity is not very high in this video because they are going bingo, wearing the colour pink which are all seen as if they are not masculine. However there is another point where they are considered masculine which is them riding horses and racing.
10) Look at the final page. What theories are suggested for this CSP and which do you think are the most useful?
Paul Gilroy’s idea of double-consciousness could be applied through the idea that Lil Nas X has openly stated he’s struggled with his own sexuality and Christian background, as well as being a black artist trying to break out in the white-centric genre of country and western music. Furthermore, sub-genre concept of hybridity in music create through African American influence is clear in how Lil Nas X is forging a type of country music.
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