Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” is paved with plenty of success.
The highly popular and often controversial rapper was recently featured in Variety’s 2021 Power of Young Hollywood issue and discussed a variety (heh!) of topics, including working on his album during the pandemic, navigating the hateful backlash that comes with his content...and yes, he broached the subject of romance.
Lil Nas X has been transparent about fully realizing his own identity and expression as a prominent figure in the LGBTQ+ community. It’s especially challenging in his industry, where homophobia abounds. Though it may appear that he is constantly fighting back against (and deftly trolling) the world in regard to expressing his sexuality in public life, there’s also Montero Lamar Hill, who has a personal love life to navigate.
“I’ve had some good boyfriends and some bad ones,” Nas X mused. “A lot of them were emotionally unavailable or had a lot of insecurity and whatnot.”
“I’ve found someone special now,” he added. “I think this is the one. I can’t explain it—it’s just a feeling.”
On Tuesday, the 22-year-old rapper celebrated a milestone: his most recently trending song “Industry Baby” (mostly due to its ruffling-feathers music video) had surpassed 100 million streams on Spotify. Plus, it was ironically announced that the milestone meant he’d beat out DaBaby as the most-streamed rapper on Spotify—a particularly “bloop” moment due to DaBaby’s homophobic and HIV-stigmatizing comments, as of late (which he “apologized” for, then later removed said “apology”).
“Wow this is insane,” Nas X tweeted upon hearing the huge news. This is the most I’ve ever had in my career. Thank u to everybody listening.” And when he says “everybody” listening, we know that means everybody—yes, even the haters who swear up and down how morally terrible his content is. Mmhmm, we see you, too.
These types of music milestones are just the beginning for Nas X, as he has already demonstrated how serious he is about his craft. He even turned down a role in a hot and trendy TV show so he can focus on said music.
“I was actually going to do Euphoria, but I didn’t want to take time away from finishing my album,” Nas X said about the HBO drama for which producer-star Zendaya won a 2020 Emmy. “I definitely want to get into acting, but I feel I have to give it my all, and I want to focus on music for right now. I want my first movie to be amazing.”
This doesn’t mean he wouldn’t have wanted to join the intense series, though! “BTW this was not me saying I’m too good for Euphoria, that’s literally one of my favorite shows right now,” he tweeted on Wednesday.