Every so often, a song like RMR's "Rascal" hits the internet and seems to capture an otherwise uncapturable attention span. Perhaps Rebbeca Black's "Friday" is to blame, or more recently Lil Nas X's record-shattering "Old Town Road." In any case, "Rascal" seems to be rapidly gaining notoriety across social media, to the point where some are predicting a fully-fledged hit in the making.
You might have already seen it. Perhaps one of your friends or followers brought it to your attention, amused and confused at the surprisingly successful wrangling of genres. In essence, "Rascal" is a country ballad, tinged with a boyband leading man's impassioned delivery. Yet the package is made complete by its music video, which goes balls-to-the-wall with trap music imagery. Ski-mask clad gangs tote weaponry with menacing expressions -- that is until the vocals begin to soar.
"This much I know, it's true, I came up and so could you," he sings, in the song's emotional chorus. "And fuck the boys in blue." It's easy to write this one off as simple parody, yet there's a relatable message at the heart of it all -- the contagious nature of a good come-up story. And don't get it twisted -- RMR is earnest in his delivery, sincere in his appreciation for country music. This is a post-Lil-Nas-X world and the country-rap subgenre has all the room in the world to evolve.
Interestingly enough, "Rascal" is mostly tethered to hip-hop through its visuals -- stip those away and you've got a surefire country hit. Barring some the anti-law lyrics, of course. Check out the rapidly rising viral sensation below. Is this a gimmick or are there legs here?
Lil Nas X Posts Two IG Videos That Show The Success Of "Old Town Road" Within A Year
Lil Nas X made his dreams come true in just one year off just one song, and he’s not afraid to revel in the success.
Now that 2019 is over, we can pretty much all agree that “Old Town Road” by Lil Nas X was officially the song of last year. Along with the equally-successful remix featuring country icon Billy Ray Cyrus, the sleeper hit not only topped the Hot 100 but went so far as to replace Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men’s classic 1995 duet “One Sweet Day” as the longest-running No. 1 record in Billboard history. Now, the young country trap superstar is letting all 5.6 million of his Instagram followers know just how far you can go in a year’s time.
With an IG slideshow posted earlier today (seen above), Lil Nas X gave us a look at the runaway success of “Old Town Road” from two different perspectives: one video dating back to a year ago today after he independently released the record in December 2018, and the other posted just a few hours ago to signify the entire 365-day time span of his success. While the glow-up sees him going from a Lynyrd Skynyrd T-shirt you could probably cop at your local Target to a diamond grill and all-white get-up that looks almost too expensive to even look at, at least he knows that a good slice of pizza defies all class systems. Congrats, X!
Take a look at Lil Nas X’s official “Old Town Road” mini-movie/music video for old time sake below:
