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Lil Nas X is finally being embraced for his country music talents.

After dominating the Billboard charts for more than 17 weeks, Lil Nas X is continuing the winning streak with his hit debut “Old Town Road”, but this time it’s the country music charts he’s dominating.

On Wednesday (Nov. 13), Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus received news that they won the Musical Event of the Year for the “Old Town Road” remix at the award ceremony that took place later that evening. The “Panini” singer wasted no time sharing his excitement after he found out about the award on Good Morning America.

After the awards show, Lil Nas X expounded on his excitement telling USA Today:

“I wasn’t sure if this was going to be able to happen tonight,” Lil Nas X. “I’m so happy this song was accepted because it is the bridging of two polar opposite genres. I’m happy it’s gotten respect from both places.”

Although the win is impactful, the Musical Event of the Year award doesn’t mean that Lil Nas X is officially considered a country artist, due to the award recognizing one-time country collaborations; previously the award has gone to duos like Keith Urban and Miranda Lambert.

In 2014, country singers Shane McAnally and Brandy Clark, both of whom are gay, shared the Song of the Year Award with Kacey Musgraves for “Follow Your Arrow.”

Nevertheless the win marks a huge accomplishment for X who was recently rejected by the genre, who told the young singer back in April that the original version “does not embrace enough elements of today’s country music to chart in its current version.”

“Old Town Road” has currently swept up a total of six awards including an MTV VMA for Song of the Year.

Lil Nas X Makes History As First Openly Gay Black Man To Win At CMA Awards  was originally published on hiphopwired.com