Lil Nas X Admits He Did not Like ‘Previous City Highway’ for Years

Again in 2019, nothing was larger — or extra controversial — in nation music than Lil Nas X‘s viral hit, “Previous City Highway.”

The Atlanta-based rapper blazed onto the nation social media house with the music, which paired a hip-hop beat with conventional nation lyricism and imagery, and “Previous City Highway” rapidly started to organically stand up the Billboard Sizzling Nation Songs chart — till Billboard eliminated it from consideration, deciding that the music wasn’t sufficiently nation to advantage inclusion on the chart.

What ensued was a scorching debate about what precisely defines a music as nation, and whether or not Billboard‘s resolution had extra to do with race than it did with the music itself. Billy Ray Cyrus bought concerned in a remix, and everybody from Jason Aldean to Keith City to Sam Elliott name-checked the music with covers, mentions and social media posts.

Amid all of the controversy and hype, Lil Nas X says he felt just a little embarrassed of his massive hit. In a brand new TikTok publish, the rapper shares a cheeky reflection admitting that he thought the music was “cringe” — and saying he is bought a special perspective on it now, 5 years later.

“Me all of the sudden realizing I spent 5 years pondering my very own music was cringe as a result of ugly losers who won’t ever make something as nice and game-changing because it bought into my head,” he wrote within the publish. over a video of himself dancing to the Billy Ray Cyrus remix of “Previous City Highway.”

What Is “Previous City Highway”‘s Legacy in Nation Music?

• Lil Nas X wasn’t exaggerating when he stated his viral, controversial hit was “game-changing.”
• The music helped open a rustic viewers’s minds to the thought of a mainstream chart crossover between hip-hop and nation. Although there was actually a precedent of collaboration between the genres — equivalent to hits from Cowboy Troy and the hick-hop subgenre — few songs from that world had been ever as common as “Previous City Highway.”
• Since 2019, nation music has seen an enormous uptick in hit songs launched by Black artists usually. It is also seen a rise in hip-hop-informed hits equivalent to Blanco Brown‘s “The Git Up” and Breland‘s “My Truck.”
• Artists like Morgan Wallen, Kane Brown and Jelly Roll have incessantly collaborated with artists from the hip-hop house, and Wallen has been within the studio with rapper Submit Malone as Submit readies his nation album.
• In 2024, Beyoncé dropped a full nation challenge, which digs deep into the historical past of the style and emphasizes the contributions made by Black performers and R&B and hip-hop sounds.
• Most just lately, Shaboozey hit the highest of the Billboard Sizzling 100 and Sizzling Nation charts — breaking a file within the course of — together with his smash hit “A Bar Music (Tipsy),” which borrows from J-Kwon’s 2004 rap smash, “Tipsy.”

“Cringe” or not, the success of “Previous City Highway” has been long-lasting and simple. In 2021, it turned probably the most Platinum-certified music within the historical past of the Recording Business Affiliation of America (RIAA.)

It is also one in all solely eight nation songs to ever promote greater than 10 million copies.