Lil Nas X: All you need to know about the 'MONTERO' singer
He knows how to make a banger 🎶
By now you've probably heard of Lil Nas X and we can't get enough of him here at heat radio! Only a few years have passed since his iconic single 'Old Town Road' became one of the biggest hits of all time, and it's safe to say that since then, Lil Nas X has been cemented a cultural icon.
From his huge collaboration with none other than country legend Billy Ray Cyrus, to his debut album 'MONTERO' and HUGE hit 'That's What I Want', Lil Nas X's career has gone from strength to strength, with some fans hoping he will perform at the Super Bowl Half-Time show. Join us as we take a look at everything there is to know about the rapper.
Who is Lil Nas X?
Lil Nas X is an American rapper, singer and songwriter who rose to fame after the success of his country rap single 'Old Town Road' which went viral as a trending sound on TikTok when the #YeeHaw challenge took off.
What is Lil Nas X's real name?
Lil Nas X's real name is Montero Lamar Hill, you may recognise the name as he used it as the title of his 2021 single as well as his upcoming debut album. His stage name, Lil Nas X is a tribute to the rapper Nas.
How old is Lil Nas X?
Lil Nas X was born on 9th April 1999 making him 25-years-old and an Aries. ♈️
Where is he from?
Lil Nas X was born in a small town outside of Atlanta, Georgia called Lithia Springs. His parents divorced when he was six and he moved to Atlanta, but left the city a few years later to live with his dad in Austell, Georgia.
Lil Nas X's family life
Nas' parents are Robert Stafford and Tamikia Hill, after his parents separated Robert married Nas' stepmother Mia Stafford. His father is a gospel singer so it's no surprise that music runs in the family!
Lil Nas X has two brothers and six half-siblings and some of them have music career aspirations of their own!
Where does he live?
In March 2021 Nas bought his first house in Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles and took to Twitter to announce the news. While the new place is pretty impressive he's already said he has plans on designing his next home!
How did Lil Nas X become famous?
It's quite a wonderful story how Lil Nas X became famous! Having dropped out of the University of West Georgia to pursue a music career Nas utilised the following he'd built on social media to promote his work.
His first successful hit 'Old Town Road' was created with a sample he'd bought for $30 and was recorded in less than an hour at a small recording studio in Atlanta where they'd offer use of their booths for $20 on Tuesdays.
The song caught traction over on TikTok with several people using the sound to take part in the #YeeHaw trend which saw people spending the summer of 2019 drinking 'Yee Yee jucie' turning them into cowboys. Lil Nas X himself said he worked on hundreds of memes to help the song take off!
The track caught the attention of Miley Cyrus' father, Billy Ray Cyrus who became the featured voice in several remixes of the song. In April 2019, Lil Nas beat Drake for the Number 1 spot of the most streams in a single week in the United States. The remix eventually went on to become the most certified song in history!
Debut album: 'MONTERO'
In 2021, Lil Nas X's debut album 'MONTERO' officially arrived! Amping up the excitement for weeks, the album was officially released on 17th September 2021.
'MONTERO' features 15 tracks, including collabs with stars such as Doja Cat, Miley Cyrus, Elton John and Megan Thee Stallion.
The 24-year-old counted down the days until his 'baby' arrived, even throwing himself a baby shower and posing for pictures with a baby bump!
Back in March of that year, Lil Nas X confirmed that his debut album will be called 'Montero' and was set to be released in the summer. In an interview with Apple Music he explained that the album will have "15 to 18" tracks, with a deluxe version of the album set to be released in the autumn.
When asked about the album on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon he called the album a "coming of age story" that's "100% me" as well as saying that it's "something everybody can vibe along to".
'Montero (Call Me By Your Name)'
The internet well and truly blew up when Lil Nas X dropped the video for his single 'Montero (Call Me By Your Name)' with the song making plenty of headlines. Well, when your video includes you traveling down to hell by pole followed by giving the devil a lap dance people are going to talk!
Despite push back from some, Lil Nas X isn't phased by his critics. In a post on social media he titled 'dear 14 year old montero' he said: 'you see this is very scary for me, people will be angry, they will say I’m pushing an agenda. but the truth is, i am. The agenda to make people stay the (...) out of other people’s lives and stop dictating who they should be.' (sic)
Lil Nas X: Relationships
Lil Nas X came out as gay to members of his family at the beginning of 2019 and did so publicly on 30th June the same year (on the final day of Pride month) by telling his fans to pay close attention to the lyrics of his song 'C7osure'.
Since coming out Lil Nas X has been heralded as a positive role model as he fights to normalise queer themes in music. Despite originally expecting to keep his sexuality a secret Nas now fully embraces who he is and that becomes increasingly clearer in his newer music.
'Montero (Call Me By Your Name)' was apparently about a guy he met during summer and through writing about his sexuality in his music he hopes he “will open doors for many other queer people to simply exist".
The Satan shoes
Nas found himself in a bit of a legal tiff when in collaboration with MSCHF he released 666 pairs of customised Nike trainers which included satanic imagery and a drop of human blood! Unsurprisingly Nike weren't too happy about this and took MSCHF to court - successfully preventing the shoes from being sold!
Lil Nas X: Stylist
In just a few years, Nas has started turning heads for serving some incredible looks both at award shows and in his music videos, so who's the brilliant mind behind his incredible style? Well it's none other than Hodo Musa who relocated from Oslo to become Nas' full time stylist.
When speaking to Vice, Hodo praised Nas' willingness to trust her: "It might sound silly or crazy, but I instantly knew our collaboration was going to be fruitful and long. He gives you the freedom that's needed in order to do your job well, cause he has faith in the people around him."
Lil Nax X Met Gala
In September 2021, Lil Nas X made his debut at the iconic Met Gala and chose to wear a dramatic ensemble custom-designed by Donatella Versace. The theme celebrated the exhibition "In America: A Lexicon of Fashion" and not content with just one outfit, Lil Nas X wore three golden creations!
Who is Lil Nas X's manager?
Lil Nas X is managed by Adam Leber, who also manages Miley Cyrus, Noah Cyrus, and Labrinth.
Was Lil Nas X in the military?
The short answer - no. Why do people think he was? Well it comes down to Nas tweeting a tongue-in-cheek response to a critic giving his EP a score of 6.5.
Was Lil Nas X on Sesame Street?
Kind of, he appeared on a spin-off show (yes of course there's a Sesame Street spin-off where have you been?) called 'The Not-Too-Late Show with Elmo' on American streaming service HBO Max where the pair did a duet of 'Elmo's song'.
Has Lil Nas X won any awards?
Lil Nas X has gained plenty of recognition for his work with nearly 20 awards won just with 'Old Town Road (Remix)', winning Favourite song - Rap/Hip-Hop at the American Music Awards, Single of the Year and Best Collab at the BET Hip-Hop Awards, Top Hot 100 Song at the Billboard Awards, Musical Event of the Year at the Country Music Association Awards, Best Music Video at the Grammy Awards, and Song of the Year at the VMAs.
Additionally he won Breakthrough Artist at the Streamy Awards, Closet Door Bustdown at the Queerty Awards, and Outstanding Music Artist at the GLAAD Media Awards.
For The BRIT Awards with Mastercard, in February 2022 Lil Nas X was nominated for International Song of the Year for his hit 'MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name)' and International Artist of the Year. Sadly Nas missed out to Billie Eilish for International Artist of the Year and Olivia Rodrigo's 'Good 4U' for International Song. See the full list of BRIT Award winners 2022.
Nas was also nominated for an impressive FIVE Grammy Awards in April 2022. Despite being nominated for so many gongs, he sadly didn't take any of them home. The rapper, however, didn't let it get him down, joking on Instagram: '0/5 grammys baby! let’s try again next year! 😩😭'.
Is Lil Nas X going on tour?
At the moment nothing has been confirmed regarding Nas heading on tour, but we can't wait for him to announce a tour! In June 2023, he delivered an epic performance at Glastonbury Festival.
Is he a Nicki Minaj superfan?
There had been speculation that Nas may have been behind a Nicki Minaj stan account that would post memes about her across Twitter. He had originally denied that he was behind the account but after coming out he eventually opened up about being a Minaj fan (also known as a Barb).
Nas explained that he was worried people would make assumptions about his sexuality if he had admitted that he was a fan of the 'Starships' rapper. Nicki addressed this by saying that originally it stung that he'd hide that he was a Barb but congratulated him on becoming his true self.
Rumours of a collaboration are in the air too! In an interview with Rap Alert on Instagram Live, Nas was asked: "What was it like collabing with Nicki Minaj?" implying that the track is done and dusted. However Nas shook it off and just said bye and hung up. 👀
Check out some of Nicki Minaj's greatest collabs:
'Moment 4 Life' with Drake (2010)
After both featuring on the iconic 'Bed Rock' back in 2009, Drake and Nicki joined forces with one another again in 2010 to bring us the hit single 'Moment 4 Life'.
'Fly' with Rihanna (2011)
A somewhat iconic duo, who can forget Nicki's huge collabs with pop superstar Rihanna?! 2010 brought us the incredibly catchy 'Raining Men', with the pair teaming up again in 2011 with 'Fly'.
'Turn Me On' with David Guetta (2011)
Over the years, Nicki has featured on a number of massive David Guetta tracks. But their 2011 single 'Turn Me On' is an absolute classic!
'Beauty and the Beat' with Justin Bieber (2012)
Nicki featured on Justin Bieber's 2012 hit 'Beauty and the Beat', a song which delivered one of the best music videos ever!
'Give Me All Your Luvin'' with Madonna and M.I.A. (2012)
A collab we never saw coming, but what a collab it was! When Nicki, M.I.A. and Madonna got together in 2012, 'Give Me All Your Luvin'' was a huge hit.
'Bang Bang' with Jessie J and Ariana Grande
Nicki teamed up with British artist Jessie J and American sweetheart Ariana Grande in 2014. The trio released the hit single 'Bang Bang', with fans loving the collab as it peaked at Number 1 in the UK and has also been certified 3x Platinum by the BPI!
'Side To Side' with Ariana Grande (2016)
Following the success of 'Bang Bang', Nicki and Ariana Grande teamed up once again in 2016, with Nicki providing vocals on Ari's hit single 'Side To Side'.
'Swish Swish' with Katy Perry (2017)
The pair teamed up back in 2017 on Katy Perry's iconic track 'Swish Swish', which featured on her fifth studio album 'Witness'.
'The Light Is Coming' with Ariana Grande (2018)
After previous success working together, it seems anything Nicki and Ariana work on together turns to gold. The pair teamed up yet again in 2018 on the single 'Bed' and 'The Light Is Coming' - the latter of which appeared on Ari's 2018 album 'Sweetener'.
'Woman Like Me' with Little Mix (2018)
In 2018, Nicki only went and joined forces with Little Mix! The girls released 'Woman Like Me' as the lead single from their fifth studio album 'LM5'.
'Say So' with Doja Cat (2020)
After the viral success of Doja Cat's 'Say So' in 2020, thanks to the mighty powers of TikTok, fans were overjoyed when the singer teamed up with Nicki to release a new remix of the popular track.
'Boyz' with Jesy Nelson (2021)
After Jesy Nelson officially left Little Mix in December 2020, she began to tease fans with upcoming solo music. Fans were thrilled when the singer dropped her first solo single on 8th October 2021, and the track, 'Boyz', features none other than Nicki herself!
'Alone' with Kim Petras (2023)
In April 2023, Kim Petras and Nicki Minaj released their song 'Alone', which samples a 90s dance classic by Alice Deejay called 'Better Off Alone'.
'Barbie World' with Ice Spice (2023)
Ice Spice and Nicki Minaj teamed up for their song 'Barbie World', featured in the Barbie movie which is out in July. The song features the 1997 hit 'Barbie Girl' by Aqua.
'Everybody' with Lil Uzi Vert (2024)
Nicki worked with fellow US rapper Lil Uzi Vert on 'Everybody', which samples 2002 classic 'Move Your Feet' by Junior Senior. The track appeared on her 2023 album 'Pink Friday 2', but was released as a single in January 2024. Nicki said of writing the track on X (formerly Twitter): 'This is mad funny b/c that was the song I wrote in 5 mins one day for "Call Of Duty" 🤣😂. Once I kept it for my album, I still didn't even rlly know if it made sense on PF2. I didn't wanna send it to Uzi b/c I thought he'd be over it. Instead he was like this hard af! Uzicito 🥹.' (sic)
Now read:
Lil Nas X drops debut album 'MONTERO' with some huge collabs
Drake: Everything you need to know
Miley Cyrus: Everything to know about the global superstar