Lil Nas X is the stage name of American rapper, singer, and composer Montero Lamar Hill. After having a number-one record, Lil Nas X was the first openly gay artist to come out.
Sexuality Identity
Lil Nas X announced his sexual orientation to the world early in 2019. On the last day of Pride Month, he made the announcement on social media. Fans and critics have suspected for a long time that he was homosexual due to hints about his sexuality in several of his songs. At an interview a few days later, he came out as gay.
Although the majority of the music industry was supportive of Lil Nas X, there were others who were not happy with the news. Several people took to social media to slam him. It drew attention to the pervasive homophobia in hip-hop culture, which was met with considerable dislike by the hip-hop community at large.
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Early Years
On April 9, 1999, in Lithia Springs, Georgia, Montero Lamar Hill came into the world. Lil Nas X, who was raised in a suburb of Atlanta, was six years old when his parents split up. When he was nine years old, he moved in with his dad in Austell, Georgia. When asked about how he avoided “getting in with the wrong crowd,” he said that leaving Atlanta was a big factor. Montero developed a deep interest in online culture and memes as a young teenager.
Nas X says he spent a lot of time on his own as a teenager, primarily on the internet. At the time, he was having difficulty accepting his sexuality. He realized he was gay when he was 17 years old. Once Montero graduated from high school in 2017 he enrolled in the University of West Georgia for a year before deciding not to continue his education there. All the while he was trying to make it big in the music industry, he was working odd jobs at places like restaurants and amusement parks to make ends meet.
Career
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Lil Nas X has always had an eye toward a future in music, but he first rose to fame as an internet sensation. The rapper said in a later interview that he had tried to gain a significant fanbase on many different networks before finding success with Twitter. Presently, he enjoys a following of over 2 million on Twitter and a subscriber base of over 5 million on YouTube.
In 2017, Lil Nas X first began establishing a reputation for himself by developing a network of Nicki Minaj-centric Twitter identities. According to Twitter, he was guilty of “Tweetdecking,” or using numerous identities to boost the popularity of a single message. His primary Nicki Minaj fan account was banned from Twitter for inappropriate behavior.
After first denying any connection to the Nicki Minaj fan accounts, he acknowledged in 2020 that he had been hiding the truth because he was afraid of the stigma that would come with having so many accounts devoted to a single celebrity (in this case, Nicki Minaj) and that he was gay. He had not yet come out when the allegations first surfaced. After first congratulating Lil Nas X, Nicki Minaj then criticized him for not coming out about being a fan.
For his 2019 goals, Lil Nas X has zeroed down on a music industry professional. In honor of the late great New York rapper Nas, he began to pen and record music under the moniker Lil Nas X. His “Old Town Road” instrumental was produced by a Dutch musician/producer named YoungKio, and he bought it from him in 2018 for $30. Due to YoungKio uploading the track to an online store that pays producers lucrative royalties, the producer made a tidy sum off of Lil Nas X’s fame.
The original version of “Old Town Road” was recorded by him at a small Georgia studio as part of a “$20 Tuesdays” special. Then, the #Yeehaw Challenge brought the song to the attention of TikTok users, who have been using it nonstop since. Participants in this internet-wide competition sported wrangler and cowgirl garb. The straightforward and melodic tune about tractors and horses quickly became a hit with the youth of the country.
Before it was controversially deleted for “not being country enough,” the song was doing well on the Billboard Hot 100 and the Hot Country Songs Chart. Some people saw this as a blatant display of bigotry. The decision, according to a Billboard official, had nothing to do with race. Many versions of the song were remixed, with Billy Ray Cyrus appearing on one of them.
For “Old Town Road’s” seven-week reign atop the Billboard charts, Lil Nas X surprised Billy Ray Cyrus with a brand-new Maserati. His online profiles had the video included. The song set a new record by staying at number one on the Billboard charts for a total of 19 consecutive weeks.
