Lil Nas X is our unlikeliest pop star. After spending his high school years chasing internet virality across social media, a song he recorded during a $20 studio session using a $30 beat would go on to become the longest-reigning Billboard No. 1. With “Old Town Road,” Lil Nas X twanged country tropes over a trap beat, kicked off a yee-haw agenda and launched a pop career off the back of a novelty hit. It’s a little bit like Weird Al becoming Beyoncé after “Eat It.”
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