Lil Nas X shot to pop culture fame when he uploaded the video for his song “Old Town Road” late last year (December 2). Not only did his brand of country-trap tap into the current cowboy trend in the music industry, but the video was also novel, comprised of clips from the video game Red Dead Redemption 2.
Now, though – after charting at number 1 across the globe – Lil Nas X has released the long-awaited “real” video for the song (or rather the remix, with Billy Ray Cyrus).
The video begins with a chase scene straight out of a classic Spaghetti Western, complete with freeze frames and old-timey fonts. Three horsemen (including Chris Rock) pursue Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus on horseback, in 1889. The two outlaws get away, though, because Rock’s character decides: “When you see a black man on a horse going that fast, you just gotta let him fly.”
What follows is a time warp that sees Lil Nas X’s cowboy character transported to the present day “Old Town Road”, and from there it gets pretty wild. There’s a drag race with a horse, Billy Ray in a pink cowboy outfit, and a performance in a bingo hall, to mention just a few highlights.
There’s also a more subtle nod to the meme that is to thank for a lot of the track’s popularity, with the appearance of “yee yee juice”. (There was a video trend going around for a while that involved someone drinking said yee yee juice and becoming cowboy-fied with “Old Town Road” as the soundtrack.)
The list of special guests in the new video is a pretty good indicator of how far the track has come in just a few months as well, with additional appearances from Haha Davis, Rico Nasty, Diplo, Jozzy, Young Kio, and Vince Staples.
Watch the video below, and catch Lil Nas X’s Dazed 100 entry here.