Lil Nas X Admits: I Used To Say Mean Sh*t For No Reason!

Lil Nas X Admits: I Used To Say Mean Sh*t For No Reason!

Lil Nas X (real name, Montero Lamar Hill) is getting comfortable with fame. The 20-year-old University of West Georgia drop-out is opening up about life before and after fame, new music, and how “Old Town Road” (celebrating its 18th week on the top of the Billboard charts! Wow!) has changed his life. He also attributes the seamlessness of his coming out announcement to numerology! See some excerpts below.

Lil Nas X

The hidden blessing behind being thrown off the Billboard Country charts:

“I was honestly surprised about how much support I go. It’s almost as if everything that happened was a blessing in disguise. Everything that looked like it would be the end for me only made the song more popular.”

“Old Town Road” wasn’t Lil Nas X’s first time going viral:

“I’ve gone viral several times already. It might not have been my face, but I know what it feels like to have my thoughts being seen everywhere.”

He says the hits starting coming after he started being himself:

“I’ve always liked different genres but I didn’t have money; it was easier to start with hip-hop because you can rap without that many tools…’Old Town Road’ only happened when I started to get more comfortable trying new things like singing…I’m happy that people think I’m doing important work, but I’m never trying to see myself in too much of high position. I’m just making music. I’m not going to say I did it so other Black country artists could have voices, because that’s not the truth. If that happened, then that’s awesome. I see songs that blend country and hip-hop on the rise and that’s amazing to be part of. I just like to believe ‘Old Town Road’ has generally opened doors in a lot of directions.”

On being more aware of his online habits now that he’s famous:

“I do try to stay positive online. I’ll ask myself, ‘Is this going to offend somebody?,’ before I do it. A lot of the stuff I used to do years before would sometimes go too far. I know I have a platform now, so there’s more of a need to make sure nothing is hurtful or too crazy. Even dealing with mean people, I can do it because I understand them. I used to sometimes say mean sh*t for no reason. I know that when people say things they’re just thoughts that might be there today but I’m not going to care about tomorrow. What am I even gaining from acknowledging it?”

Lil Nas X, Billy Ray Cyrus

We won’t see any intentional publicity stunts from Lil Nas X! Here’s why:

“I’ve watched the music industry from the sidelines, so I learned what to do and what not to do and who I wanted to be friends with. I would watch a lot of musicians try to come up by doing crazy stuff and using outrageous behavior to keep attention. I even thought about doing that, like maybe busting a car window or something to get attention, but I knew I could do it without making everything into a stunt.”

An attraction to the numbers 7 and 9 led him to coming out as gay:

“I really believe in signs and I started to see seven and nine a lot right around the time I was about to come out. I was originally going to do it at Pride because I saw a banner that said, ‘LA Pride, June 7 -9,’ and I was like, ‘Wow, there goes the numbers again.’ And then my sister ended up having her baby on the ninth, so nine became my number for family.”

some of y’all already know, some of y’all don’t care, some of y’all not gone fwm no more. but before this month ends i want y’all to listen closely to c7osure. ??? pic.twitter.com/O9krBLllqQ

— nope (@LilNasX) June 30, 2019

On how he persevered through the challenges of poverty and adjusting to college-life:

“After senior year I pretty much wore whatever clothes I had bought for the next two-ish years. I didn’t really have a chance to develop a sense of style because I would wear literally anything that looked alright that I could afford, which was barely anything. On top of that, college was my first time getting an F. The summer I dropped out I was supposed to go to a summer program at my school because I’d just gotten too comfortable and wasn’t doing well. I was top of my class in everything in high school, so that was a huge adjustment.”

On what his next project will sound like:

“Honestly, I feel like I put together a certain formula for each song as far as length or not having too much of one element going on for too long, but it’s not a science where I’m like, I’m going to use this melody on this song because if I do, it’ll be a hit; that’s not how it works. That’s why for my next project I’m just thinking about whatever I feel sounds good.”

Written by Miata Shanay