Lil Nas X has made history since dropping his record-breaking “Old Town Road.” From day one, the song sparked controversy when it was removed from the country charts for “not being a country song,” only for the iconic Billy Ray Cyrus to hop on the remix and take it back to the top.
The 20-year-old rapper now has the longest-running Hot 100 hit song and a possible Grammy on the way, but as for his future, he’s determined to stay weird and remain uncategorized.
Nas X spoke with Billboard about the MTV VMAs where he performed and solidified himself as a true artist. While MTV was hoping he’d perform “Old Town Road,” Lil Nas X says he “wanted to move on.”
Prior to the show, the rapper had seldom performed on stage, so when the VMA’s came around his manager, Adam Leber made sure he’d be ready. “We had him in rehearsals almost immediately,” Leber said. “He worked his ass off.”
Lil Nas X also worked with performance consultant KJ Rose, whose whole plan was to build him up and free him to “occupy his space.”
“She helped me get some confidence to go out there and do a little two-step,” said the rapper.
From that point forward, he made a conscious decision to move beyond his hit song. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
“I’m not worried about anything,” he said when asked if he feels pressured regarding his next move.
“As an artist building myself up, I’m going to have to continue to make other moments,” he told Billboard.
“There was a very real strategy here in terms of making sure that we had more music in the marketplace to showcase Nas as the artist we knew he was before everyone moved on,” said Leber.
Elsewhere, the rapper also spoke about being nervous or anxious about performing, creating new sounds, and coming out as bisexual to fans and family.
His song “C7osure” was his public coming out moment. However, the artist who says he’s rarely nervous did feel a bit nerves when he came out to his father before releasing the song. “It’s something I never probably would have did if I was still living with my parents. I have that independence to do it, you know?”
Now with the independence and a name for himself, Lil Nas X just plans to keep creating and continue to break boundaries.
“I’m not as paranoid as I was before, but I’m still thinking if you miss too much you’re gone,” he said. “You step away from the public eye for too long; they don’t care no more. And whenever I do step away from the internet or the music too long, it’s like I have to slowly get back into myself to get back into the groove.” What groove? “Content. Making good content.”
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