On December 3, 2018, Lil Nas X dropped a country track about a horse. Initially released without much fanfare, it was quickly embraced by the internet, becoming a TikTok meme, a viral sensation and, eventually, a number one single with a hundred million streams, a Billy Ray Cyrus remix (!) and a star studded music video. The rest, as they say, is history.
As ever with massive, internet breaking debuts, there were rumblings that Lil Nas X was going to become a bit of a one-trick pony. The eight track EP is bookended (obviously) by Old Town Road in its original and remixed forms, with a bunch of future hits tucked in between. On Rodeo Lil Nas X continues his crusade to further the yeehaw agenda, pulling Cardi B along for the ride. She’s not the only big name lending herself to the record either. Travis Barker gets a writing credit on the future Disney hit F9mily (You and Me), but the collab with Beyoncé that was teased on Twitter turned out to be just Lil Nas X trolling us. Of course.
The breakaway hit of the release is Panini, a trippy, synth-heavy take on a 90s classic melody. On the song the rapper interpolates Nirvana’s iconic In Bloom, crediting Kurt Cobain as one of the track’s creators. “One of the craziest things about Panini is it introduced me to Nirvana’s album Nevermind,” Lil Nas X explained in an interview with Zane Lowe yesterday, sounding younger than anyone has ever been. “It’s like I always seen the cover but I never actually listened to it. And people was like, ‘Wow he sampled Nirvana.’ I was like, no. It’s like, I didn’t realise I was using almost the exact same melody.”
And just as Billy Ray Cyrus’ cameo transformed the original Old Town Road, Lil Nas X has similar aspirations for Panini. On Twitter, he put out a clarion call to get celebrity chef and raw bass hater Gordon Ramsay on the track. “Tryna get Gordon Ramsay on this Panini remix,” the rapper tweeted, and Gordon quickly replied. Basically, what this means is that soon enough Gordon Ramsay will be appearing in a Lil Nas X video, hopefully in some kind of chef-cowboy-hybrid costume. We are 100% ready.
