Montero Lamar Hill, known professionally as Lil Nas X, is an American singer, rapper, and songwriter.
Born in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1999, Lil Nas X was, amazingly, named Montero after the Mitsubishi Montero. For part of his childhood, he lived in housing projects with his mother and grandmother before moving in with his father, a gospel singer. Reflecting on this period in his life, Lil Nas said that if he’d have stayed in the projects, “I would have fallen in with the wrong crowd.” He also shared his father’s inclination toward music, playing the trumpet in elementary and middle school but later quitting because he feared it made him look uncool. Though he attended university as a computer science major, Lil Nas X dropped out of college to pursue a career in music, supporting himself with odd jobs, including at coffee shops and theme parks.
Lil Nas X rose to international attention with his breakout country rap single “Old Town Road.” The behind-the-scenes story of the song reveals its remarkably humble beginnings. He anonymously bought the beat for the track on a beat-selling platform for $30, used a small excerpt from a Nine Inch Nails song, and recorded it at a small Atlanta studio on their “$20 Tuesdays” in less than an hour. Lil Nas posted the song online and self-promoted it with memes. His hustling paid off. The track went viral on social media, generating its own trend that racked up more than 67 million views by mid 2019. The song became a diamond-certified sensation that reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100. After 13 weeks at the top, it became the longest-running hip-hop song on the chart.
Far from being a flash in the pan, Lil Nas X continued to produce hits along with incredible music videos and iconic fashion moments, becoming one of popular culture’s most viral, larger-than-life personalities. He’s released one studio album, three extended plays, one mixtape, 24 singles, and six promotional singles.
His first album, Montero, was released in 2021 to great fanfare and earned a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year. He’s won two Grammys so far, with another nine nominations, five Billboard Awards (and another 13 nominations), two American Music Awards (and another eight nominations), and 10 MTV Awards (and another 27 nominations). He was also named one of Time’s 100 most influential people of 2021.
Lil Nas X has teased the idea of his bisexuality throughout the years, although it wasn’t always clear if he was coming out as bi or being provocative. At the end of Pride Month (June) 2019, he put out a series of cryptic tweets implying that he is bi, including this one.
In January of 2023, he made us all sit up and pay attention again when he tweeted.
He followed this up with,
In the time since, Lil Nas X has shared that he finds himself more often sexually attracted to men and romantically attracted to women. He also helped his brother come out as bi. In the documentary, Lil Nas X: Long Live Montero, Tramon Hill, Lil Nas X’s brother, said,
He helped me be real with myself. What I mean by that is, like, I’m not gay, though, you feel me? I’m bisexual. He helped me be real with myself. My brother made me more open to it.