After the record-breaking Billboard run of his introductory hit “Old Town Road,” Lil Nas X is back up to his old remix tricks. This time around, he’s added bubbling North Carolina MC DaBaby to his follow-up “Panini,” accompanying the release with the usual clever meme-baiting video borrowing from Gen-Z-approved Cartoon Network show Chowder. Check it out above.
DaBaby is experiencing a breakthrough year himself after his debut album, Baby On Baby, and its witty videos captured the public imagination and helped him secure placement on XXL‘s 2019 Freshman cover. From there, he guested on Megan Thee Stallion’s album Fever, Dreamville’s Revenge Of The Dreamers III, and popped up on the remix of Lizzo’s breakthrough hit “Truth Hurts.” All in all, he’s having a knockout 2019 — pun definitely intended.
Even so, DaBaby’s rise is still a relatively small potato next to Lil Nas X’s. “Old Town Road” spent an unprecedented number of weeks at No. 1 on the Hot 100, his 7 EP proved that his breakout was no fluke, and his plethora of remixes to “Old Town Road” just showed how badly seemingly every musician from Billy Ray Cyrus to BTS wanted a ticket aboard the gravy train. The most well-known remix included both teen yodeler Mason Ramsey and adult, trap rap also-yodeler Young Thug, showing just how much appeal Lil Nas X has across genres and generations. If he can somehow repeat a similar feat with “Panini,” it might be a long time before he vacates the charts.
7 is out now via Columbia Records.
