After his ouster
from the Hot Country US song charts triggered outrage and catapulted him to
overnight fame, genre-bending artist Lil Nas X is up for a Country Music Award.
His now-ubiquitous record-breaking megahit "Old Town Road"-which
marries twangy banjo with thumping bass-will compete for "Musical Event of
the Year" at this year's CMAs, organizers announced Wednesday. The
infectious single by the Atlanta native was famously booted from Billboard's country
list, with the industry tracker saying it was not in line with the genre's
sound.

Its removal
sparked anger over perceived white-washing in the country music industry, with
many saying the novice musician's hit was pigeonholed as hip hop purely because
he is black. Billboard denied those allegations-but didn't allow "Old Town
Road" back onto the country chart, even after genre veteran Billy Rae
Cyrus offered vocals for a remix of the hit, which is the version up for a CMA.
Since then Lil Nas X broke the decades-old record for longest reign over the
Billboard Hot 100, the industry's most closely watched singles chart, holding
the spot for 19 weeks and fending off advances from pop juggernauts including
Taylor Swift and Justin Bieber.

This week the
unknown artist-turned-industry maverick along with Cyrus snagged MTV Video
Music Award for Best Song. The collaborators will now compete at the CMAs in
November against country artists including Maren Morris and Garth Brooks.
"thank you guys for this nomination!!" tweeted Lil Nas X.-AFP