Lil Nas X speaking on CBS Sunday Morning. (Screenshot from YouTube)
In a recent interview with CBS Sunday Morning, openly gay rapper Lil Nas X accused the music industry of forcing LGBTQ artists to “sanitize” their identities – something he refuses to do.
“I feel like I’m definitely much more ‘out there’ with it,” he told CBS correspondent Tracy Smith. “It’s always been, ‘Okay, if you’re gay, this needs to be sanitized. Let’s not include anything sexual.’ It’s like, ‘Be gay without being gay. We don’t wanna know what happens behind closed doors, or we don’t want you to express that.’”
He added: “I’m saying that I’m gonna do that if I want to. And I want every other artist to feel the same way.”
The Grammy-winner also spoke about coming out after his Billboard chart-topping song “Old Town Road” blew up, saying it felt like the “most authentic time.”
“It’s like, I’m not doing it for attention. I’m already like the number one artist in the world right now,” he said.
He added that “there was definitely some fear,” but “there’s always gonna be fear when you’re doing something that’s literally life-changing. But you just have to do it, you know?”
Though “Old Town Road” propelled Nas to stardom, he revealed that he wanted to “reinvent” himself by celebrating his sexuality more with his next album.
“How do I express myself more than I did last time?” he recalled asking himself.
“MONTERO,” the superstar’s debut studio album, was the answer. The record, which is nominated for 5 Grammy awards, unapologetically expresses his queer identity and experiences.
Arguably, no song from the album shows this more than the title track “MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name).” In the music video for the song, Nas rode a stripper pole to Hell and gave the devil a lap dance.
“Well, you know the saying, you know, ‘Gay people go to Hell,’ or anybody in the LGBT community? So it’s like, ‘Okay, I’m goin’ to Hell.’ I went to Hell!” he said. “And now people are like, ‘Oh my God, I can’t believe he did that!’ But wasn’t I going there anyway? Why are you upset about that?”
Smith also pressed Nas on what is next.
“I have no idea, but it’s going to be incredible,” he replied. “I’m excited for new music. I don’t know what the heck I’m gonna do yet. But it’s gonna be a fun career and a fun life.”
https://youtu.be/DZEFGo8XAuc
