Lil Nas X Raids Area 51 With The Boys In Yet Another ‘Old Town Road Remix’ Vid

The new video for Lil Nas X‘s second Old Town Road remix is meme worship. This is not a surprise, but the animated clip may actually stand as the most meme-referential piece of media in the Western canon. It is fractal. It is recursive. At every layer, a new in-joke is exposed. Each punchline? Another reference.

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Let’s start with its basic premise. Lil Nas X, who crafted the most stubbornly resilient single in living memory, enlisted Billy Ray Cyrus, Young Thug, and Mason Ramsey to bolster his infamous country/hip-hop hybrid. Cyrus and Ramsey are both famous in their own right for unleashing their own memetic music on the planet; elsewhere, Thugga himself has been immortalised in a meme format.

The clip, animated by Somehoodlum, imagines all four musos storming Area 51 to liberate them aliens – a scenario which has been impressed on the public conscience by a memey Facebook group. The lone security guard at the gates? An imitation of YouTuber and music critic Anthony Fantano, who has a side gig reviewing memes. 

Keanu Reeves also makes an appearance, ’cause fuck it. They may as well go for maximum meme density.

I am so tired. Watch the video below. Keep this song atop the Billboard charts. It simply does not matter any more.

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