After Billboard removed Lil Nas X's popular song "Old Town Road" from the Hot Country Songs chart, artists like Ski Mask The Slump God, 9th Wonder and others in the hip-hop community have spoken out about the matter on behalf of the rapper.

For his part, Joe Budden says artists should be able to label their music with whatever genre they want to. Ski Mask The Slump God, meanwhile, says Billboard's removing Lil Nas X from their Hot Country Songs chart is a clear case of discrimination.

"Wow, Discrimination At It’s Finest," the 2018 XXL Freshman tweeted. "This Didn’t Come From Me But If My Song Was Taken Off Of A Platform Because They Decided It Doesn’t Live Up To The Genre Enough For Them I’m suing."

"Old Town Road," which is described as a country-trap record, recently went viral and made history by debuting on Billboard's Hot 100, Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and Hot Country Songs charts at the same time. Despite the song being labeled as country,  Billboard removed the song from the Hot Country Songs chart because it "does not embrace enough elements of today’s country music to chart in its current version.”

This struck a nerve for rappers like Ski Mask and Budden, but he's not the only artist who is disturbed by Billboard's decision. Other artists like Reese LaFlare, Jazz Cartier and veteran producer 9th Wonder also chimed in with their thoughts.

"Buuuuut. So many artists end up on the Billboard Charts as “Hip-Hop”," 9th Wonder tweeted. "and if we don’t accept it.....we don’t want the genre to grow, and we are purists and stuck in our ways. But they kick homie off the country charts tho, because it’s not country to “them”.... Got it."

See what hip-hop has to say about Lil Nas X's song being removed from Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart below.

In a statement given to Rolling Stone, reps for Billboard said that race played no role in their decision.

  • Joe Budden

  • Ski Mask The Slump God

  • 9th Wonder

  • Reese LaFlare

  • Jazz Cartier

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