Billy Ray Cyrus Adds More Country Flavor in Lil Nas X Hit

It seems that more and more people have jumped to Lil Nas X’s defense after his removal at the Billboard charts. The latest to defend him is country superstar Billy Ray Cyrus.

Billy Ray Cyrus’ Endorsement

The country crooner tweeted a message of support and encouragement to the Atlanta-based rapper, whose viral hit “Old Town Road” was removed from the Billboard Country charts.

.@LilNasX Been watching everything going on with OTR. When I got thrown off the charts, Waylon Jennings said to me “Take this as a compliment” means you’re doing something great! Only Outlaws are outlawed. Welcome to the club!

— Billy Ray Cyrus (@billyraycyrus) April 3, 2019

Recently, it was announced that Billy Ray Cyrus is officially collaborating with Lil Nas X for a remix of ‘Old Town Road.’

Jake Owen was one of the first country stars to actively endorse ‘Old Town Road.’ He even expressed that he wanted to work with the rapper and would gladly collaborate with him.

We can jam anytime @LilNasX. Love that song. I love George Jones. I love Don Williams. I love @SnoopDogg. I miss Biggie Smalls and Merle Haggard and probably played them both in my truck this week. I just love music. Now go ride that horse 🐎 bro 💪🏽 https://t.co/2T2ICLMyVp

— Jake Owen (@jakeowen) March 28, 2019

In an interview with SiriusXM and host Storme Warren, Owen confirmed that the tentative collaboration was moving forward.

He has also emphasized that he wasn’t really concerned about the confines and the perceptions around genres.

“I’ve always loved every kind of music, and he wrote a song that came out, people obviously liked it enough to where it starts popping up charting on a country hit,” he observes. “Now, there’s definitely elements that people think are country or aren’t country, but I think at the end of the day, for me, anything that seems to pop up on our radar and people like it, it’s welcome. I leave my doors open any time, because you never know what’s gonna walk through.”

Lil Nas X’s Controversial Song

The viral phenomenon blew up so fast that radio professionals had to take it down from Youtube to play it on the radio instead. ‘Old Town Road’ became such a perplexing song, the music industry scrambles to decide what exactly to call it.

However, festivities are short-lived as the country-rap hit was removed from Billboard‘s Hot Country Songs chart.

“Upon further review, it was determined that ‘Old Town Road’ by Lil Nas X does not currently merit inclusion on Billboard‘s country charts. When determining genres, a few factors are examined, but first and foremost is musical composition. While ‘Old Town Road’ incorporates references to country and cowboy imagery, it does not embrace enough elements of today’s country music to chart in its current version.”