RM of BTS' "Seoul Town Road Remix" Is A Clever Take On Lil Nas X's Viral Hit

The internet threatened to explode when two of the biggest viral chart-toppers came together for the most 2019 collaboration imaginable. BTS' leader and rapper RM hopped on Lil Nas X's "Old Town Road" to create the latest and most creative interpretation: "Seoul Town Road."

ARMY pointed out after the remix dropped that there were a few hints in the past few months that RM had the song on the brain. In one of BTS' backstage clips, RM can be heard singing the song faintly in the background and in another, from an interview with 97.1 AMP radio in L.A., BTS dance to the original version.

You could easily laugh and shrug it off as a star quickly slapping a few bars onto a viral hit — as Lil Nas X pointed out in a tweet, this version is joining "79 other Old Town Road remixes" (an exaggeration that feels too real). But BTS doesn't do lazy. Especially RM, who has long been admired by fans and his peers for his intelligence, especially when it comes to his knack for intricate wordplay.

In RM's verse — “I got the homis in my bag / Have you heard of that? / Homis made of steel from Korea / They the best” — he uses the Korean word "ho-mi," which is the name for a gardening tool. It's also a clever homophone for the English word "homie."

The purple horse in the song's cover art is full of meaning. The color purple is significant to ARMY, and has come to represent the fandom's relationship to BTS. BTS member V coined the phrase "보라해" (pronounced "borahae"), or "I purple you" as an endearment to fans. ARMY has now taken the pun further in light of the purple horse in "Seoul Town Road": "borahae" is now "boraneigh."

“Old Town Road” has held the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 for the past 16 weeks. If Lil Nas X holds on for another week, he'll beat the records held by Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee (featuring Justin Bieber) for "Despacito," as well as Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men. The significance of the No.1 song in America being a country-rap song by a queer Black man isn't lost on many. And now, with the addition of BTS' RM, Lil Nas X is joined by arguably one of the biggest South Korean artists in the world.