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As\u00a0<\/span>Beyonc\u00e9<\/a>\u00a0sees success with her\u00a0hit\u00a0<\/span>Cowboy Carter<\/em><\/a>\u00a0album,\u00a0<\/span>Lil Nas X<\/a>\u00a0is looking back on the controversy that surrounded his most-talked-about track,\u00a0<\/span>“Old Town Road.”<\/a>\u00a0The 2019 single rocketed the musician to musical superstardom, but not without stirring up a massive debate about the country music genre and its inclusivity.<\/span><\/p>\n Following the release and <\/span>initial success of the original song<\/a>,\u00a0<\/span>Billboard\u00a0<\/span><\/em>removed it from their country music chart, saying in a statement to\u00a0<\/span>Rolling Stone,<\/em><\/a>\u00a0“While ‘Old Town Road’ incorporates references to country and cowboy imagery, it does not embrace enough elements of today\u2019s\u00a0country music\u00a0to chart in its current version.”<\/span><\/p>\n Talking to <\/span>Time Magazine<\/em><\/a> about the controversy,\u00a0Lil Nas X described the song as “country trap” and said it should be eligible for inclusion on both R&B and country music charts.<\/span><\/p>\n “It’s not one, it’s not the other. It’s both. It should be on both,” he asserted. “I believe whenever you’re trying something new, it’s always going to get some kind of bad reception. For example, when rap started, or when rock and roll began. But with country trap, I in no way want to take credit for that. I believe Young Thug would be one of the biggest pioneers in that.”<\/span><\/p>\n The decision resulted in an online backlash, with some saying that Lil Nas X’s exclusion continued country music’s troubled history of turning its back on Black artists. It also stirred up discussion about mainstream acceptance of musical genre crossovers, which many pointed out have been done before to much success.<\/span><\/p>\n Twitter user @Sojourner wrote: “White people infiltrate hip-hop, rap & pop… and black culture all the time. They get awarded for it and called innovators but a black man does it and it’s an issue. Nah. Good for Lil Nas X. He got a country hit.”<\/span><\/p>\n The song went on to top the Billboard Hot 100 chart for 19 consecutive weeks —\u00a0<\/span>a new record<\/a>, beating out the previous mark of 16 weeks held by both\u00a0“One Sweet Day” by\u00a0Mariah Carey\u00a0and\u00a0Boyz II Men\u00a0and “Despacito”\u00a0by\u00a0Luis Fonsi\u00a0and\u00a0Daddy Yankee\u00a0featuring\u00a0Justin Bieber — and topped the singles charts in at least 10 other countries.<\/span><\/p>\n Now, five years later,\u00a0genre-blending artists like\u00a0Beyonc\u00e9\u00a0and\u00a0Shaboozey are seeing success on the\u00a0country chart that some fans feel was also owed to Lil Nas X.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Beyonc\u00e9 made history as\u00a0<\/span>the first Black female artist to top Billboard’s Hot 100 Country Songs chart<\/a>\u00a0with “Texas Hold ‘Em.” The track spent\u00a010 weeks at the top, only getting dethroned by Shaboozey with his single, “A Bar Song (Tipsy).”<\/span><\/p>\n