Lil Nas X Talks Creating More Positivity and His Past Online Activity

Lil Nas X says he “would sometimes go too far” when he posted online in the past.

Lil Nas X has made history with his hot single “Old Town Road,” but now he says he wants to correct his past history online with more positivity. During an interview with Paper magazine, the rapper reflected on his now deactivated Twitter account @NasMaraj. Although X has yet to answer questions about his activity on the account, he says his views regarding how one receives attention online have changed.

“I do try to stay positive online,” X said before alluding to his past approach. “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 shit 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?”

Back in April, X said the entire situation was a “big misunderstanding.” X went on to discuss how there are different paths to viral success, and that he is happy he didn’t result to certain options. “I would watch a lot of musicians try to come up by doing crazy stuff and using outrageous behavior to keep attention,” he said. “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.”

He also opened up about his fascination with signs and the numbers seven and nine being his reasons for coming 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,'” he said. “And then my sister ended up having her baby on the ninth, so nine became my number for family.”