Unless you’ve been living under a rock the past few months, you’ll know that pop culture is heading west – that’s right, the sort of west that screams “howdy, partner”, appears in chaps, and rides a horse straight to the saloon. Leading this movement is country-trap musician Lil Nas X, who you will have definitely heard of by now (and if you haven’t, do you even pop culture?). His viral breakout track “Old Town Road”, which has been remixed by the likes of Billy Ray Cyrus, Young Thug and Mason Ramsey, CupcakKe as “Old Town Hoe”, and BTS as “Seoul Town Road”, is the longest-running number one song ever, so you better start getting used to seeing him around.
In this first ever episode of Making It Up As You Go Along, where we give artists a box filled with random topics to pick out and discuss, we buckle up to chat all things yeehaw with the Atlanta-born artist, whose sudden virality alone is a study in itself on internet culture. First in the rapper’s firing line are memes, which he describes as the “greatest things ever to touch humanity”. Before admitting, “I would not have a career without them.”
An essential part of cowboy life is the outfit, which Nas takes a loose approach to (don’t tell the sheriff). “Cowboy fashion is you know, whatever you want it to be. But you know, you gotta have the Western roots within it somewhere and you drip, you feel me,” he says. “Of course the hat, you know, pretty sure you guys have seen me in one of those.”
Lil Nas rounds off the video by reflecting on his family. “Mine is driving me crazy right now,” he tells us. “Family extends from just blood, you know. You want to do right by them, even when they do you wrong.” So what y’all waiting for? Saddle up and watch the video above, and get excited about upcoming episodes of Making It Up As You Go Along, featuring the likes of Doja Cat and drag queen superstar Soju.
