What’s going on?”

“Everything’s going on.”

“Everything is going on.

Mr. Cyrus, how are you?”

“I’m doing good, Joe.

How you doing?”

“Yo, what’s up?”

“I like your robe.”

“Thanks.”

“Yeah, I always make beats in this.”

“Play the number one song in the world.”

“O.K. Let’s hear 'Old Town Road' by Lil Nas X.

(SINGING) I got the horses in the back.

Horse tack is attached.

Hat is matte black.

Got the boots that’s black to match.”

“No!

No!”

“So you were just, like, throwing stuff up

on SoundCloud that you recorded in your bedroom?”

“Either in the closet of my bedroom,

or the closet in my grandma’s house.

Like, making studios out of those.”

“Well, I’m from the Netherlands.

I live in a small town next to Amsterdam.

This is where I make my beats.

It’s just, like, a desk with two monitors,

and I’m just selling my beats online.

I can make quality beats really fast.

So I can, like, put out, like, 10 a day, you know?”

[music]

“Banjos, you know?

It really just hits me.

That’s why I made the track.”

“Who wrote the sample?”

“It was Nine Inch Nails.”

[music]

“But I had never heard of Nine Inch Nails before.

But they have — they make some really good music, you know?”

“I always get my beats, like, from YouTube.

I would just go through, like, 100 beats.”

“It’s really just luck that people just find your stuff,

you know?

It’s really luck.”

“I found the beat on, like, Halloween night.

The beat was just speaking to me, you know?

I was, like, this song’s gonna be great.”

“Did you conceive of the song as a country rap song?”

“Country trap.

But, like, if I had to choose which one it’s more

leaning towards, it would definitely be country.

I got the horses in the back.

Horse tack is attached.

Hat is matte black.

Got the boots that’s black to match.

I knew 'Old Town Road' had to have

some kind of funny lyrics, just

to keep people entertained.

Cowboy hat from Gucci.

Wrangler on my booty.”

“Did you have a job at the time?

Were you working?”

“No, I was not working.

Like, I was pushing my music through the internet, like,

full time.

From the very night I released 'Old Town Road' on Twitter,

this song was already, like, moving.

(SINGING) I’m gonna take my horse to the old town road.

I’m gonna ride till I can’t no more.

I got the horses in the back — “

“I randomly found it on Twitter.

Somebody put his song over a video that I already did.

And then I was like, hold on.

This song is — this song is kind of hard.”

“(SINGING) I got the horses in the back.”

“It put the black yeehaw agenda and the song together,

and it just —

shot off.”

“A lot of people like to say, you know, it was,

like, a kid accidentally got it.

It’s like, no, this is no accident.

Like, I’ve been —

I’ve been pushing this hard.

The internet is basically, like, my parents, in a way.

I was raised picking up on stuff.

I had to learn how to use it, you know, in my own way.”

“I saw you made that post on Reddit where you were, like,

what’s that song that goes, I’m

gonna take my horse to the old town road?”

“Yeah, I did that.

Because I knew that’s what people were gonna search.

Oh, my god.

That’s embarrassing.”

“I didn’t really know the song existed.

I think it was a girl who sent me a meme,

and she was like, hey, I heard you’re

producer tag.”

“Kio.

Kio.”

“So you’d never met Nas X before?”

“Never.

No.”

“You didn’t know who he was?”

“I didn’t know who he was.

Nothing.

I feel like it was meant to be, you know?

Me finding him right on time.”

“(SINGING) I got the horses in the back.

Horse tack is attached.”

“It’s 15 second videos.

I have a hard time explaining it to anyone that’s like,

so you make money how?

I’m like, I dance on camera.”

“Are you the first person to post 'Old Town Road'

on Tik Tok?”

It went [bleep] crazy.”

“(SINGING) I got the horses in the back.”

“Everyone was dressed like a cowboy

for, like, three weeks.”

“(SINGING) Got the boots that’s black to match.

Ridin' on a horse — “

“Once it hit Tik Tok, and it was going viral, I was like,

O.K. We won.”

“We passed the biggest songs out,

and we just passed it, like it’s nothing.”

“(SINGING) You can’t tell me nothing.

Can’t nobody tell me nothing.”

“You hear that?

That’s 'Old Town Road,' Lil Nas X’s big hit,

and it was tearing up the country charts until

Billboard pulled it off for not being country enough.”

“Oh, whoa, whoa, whoa, now.

You got too much dip on your chip.”

“Do you think there’s a racial element to 'Old Town Road'

being removed from the country chart?”

“I see it as more of, like, a —

we let certain things slide, but maybe this one

is too different.

If we allow this, who knows?”

“I was really mad, because if it didn’t go off the charts,

it would be, like, number one.”

“Billy Ray, tell me when you first heard 'Old Town Road.’”

“I heard the song on March the 16th.”

“Who played it for you?”

“Tish.”

“That’s your wife?”

“Yep.

And we were having our morning coffee,

and she got a call, I think, from Ron Perry at the record

label.

And he said, hey, we’ve got this thing,

we’d love for your husband to hear it.

And I actually stood up out of my chair.

I stood up and go, god, I love that.

That dude is original.”

“If you go to my past tweets, like, two days after I

put out the song, I’m like, Twitter, please help me

get Billy Ray on there.

Because I was, like, Billy Ray Cyrus

would be perfect for this.”

“(SINGING) Hat down, crosstown, living like a rockstar.

Spend a lot of money on my — “

“Billy Ray, where’s 'Old Town Road' on the charts

right now?”

“Which charts?”

“The main chart.

The Billboard Hot 100.”

“Oh, 'Old Town Road' is number one.”

“Yeah, I’m gonna take my horse to the old town road.

I’m gonna ride till I can’t no more.”

“It’s my beats, you know?

I just made it here, in my bedroom,

and now the whole entire planet is listening to it.”

“Ridin' on a horse.”

“I can’t go down the street without hearing that song

at all.

From the internet, which is amazing.”

“(SINGING) Can’t nobody tell me nothing.”

“Every now and then, a song like that comes around,

and I count my blessings that they reached out to me,

and just let me be a part of this moment.”

“Are you ready to play it a million times

for the rest of your life?”

“Yes.

I’m gonna play this song —

this is my life song at this point.”

“(SINGING) I’m gonna ride till I can’t no more.

Yeah, I’m gonna take my horse — “

“Do you have plans to come to the U.S.?”

“Yeah.

Yeah, of course.

But I’m, like, gonna let you know,

so I can’t just drop everything, and just

go there.”

“(SINGING) I’m gonna ride — “

“Have you ever ridden a horse?”

“Not yet.”

“That’s the craziest part.”

“Maybe in the music video?”

“Oh, of course.

Come on, now.”

[horse neighing]