Lil Nas X has been turning heads and sparking debates all year long with his sexually charged music videos, and like them or not, they have been bringing an unapologetic homosexual perspective to a cishet male-dominated field. The public discourse around Lil Nas X's lead-up to MONTERO has been so intense that it's easy to forget that the "Industry Baby" artist has only publicly expressed his sexuality for just two years.
According to Complex, the artist behind one of the year's biggest singles, "MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name)," recently caught up with XXL to discuss his recent commercial and critical success as well as his responsibility to bring LGBQT+ representation to Hip-Hop.
Lil Nas X reveals that "Old Town Road" is what actually inspired him to come out during the summer of 2019, while his country-rap single still had a chokehold on the music industry.
"I don’t think I would have ever came out," the Georgia-bred artist explained. "I honestly felt like it was kind of my duty. Especially if I wanted to move forward. And [with] what I was doing, because authenticity is very real, and I feel like people can see right through that. And that’s a part of me."
"I used to ‘like’ comments where people were like, ‘Oh, I like him, because he’s not all in your face about it.’ And then I realized kind of what that was," Lil Nas X continued. "It’s kind of like when people say, ‘Oh, I have a Black friend,’ and that kind of sits on everything that have to do with their Black history and culture, whatnot. I’m kind of like, I’m not that person, you know?"
In other Lil Nas X news, the first-week sales numbers for MONTERO are officially in, and you can also check out HNHH's review of his debut album here.
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