Jake Owen is collaborating with Lil Nas X, who recently had his song removed from the Billboard Country chart

Country singer Jake Owen is collaborating with country rapper Lil Nas X, who’s been in a bubble of controversy after his song was recently removed from the Billboard’s Country chart.

In a recent interview with SiriusXM’s The Highway, Owen confirmed the news to to host Storme Warren that the collab with the rapper is really moving forward.

Owen’s told Warren “We are. It’s happening,” Owen states. “You’ll find out soon, my friend!”

Owen’s spoke about the controversy surrounding Lil Nas X’s song being removed, telling Owen’s “Now, there’s definitely elements that people think are country or aren’t country, but I think at the end of the day, for me, anything that seems to pop up on our radar and people like it, it’s welcome. I leave my doors open any time, because you never know what’s gonna walk through.”

Billboard removed Lil Nas X’s song “Old Town Road” from their country chart after it rose to #19 in March saying that it didn’t have enough country elements and even told the rappers label that it was a mistake to have had it on their country chart. The song is a combination of hip-hop, juxtaposes, banjo and what’s considered traditional country lyricism.

Lil Nas X recently spoke to Time magazine, breaking his silence on the controversy telling them ” The song is country trap. It’s not one, it’s not the other. It’s both. It should be on both”, adding “I believe whenever you’re trying something new, it’s always going to get some kind of bad reception. For example, when rap started, or when rock and roll began. But with country trap, I in no way want to take credit for that. I believe Young Thug would be one of the biggest pioneers in that.”

Photo credit: Rick Diamond / Columbia Records