Montero Lamar Hill (born April 9, 1999), known as Lil Nas X (/nɑːz/ NAHZ), is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and internet personality. He rose to prominence with the release of his country rap single "Old Town Road", which first achieved viral popularity on the social media app TikTok in early 2019 before climbing music charts internationally and becoming diamond certified by November of that same year.
"Old Town Road" spent nineteen weeks atop the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, becoming the longest-running number-one song since the chart debuted in 1958. Several remixes of the song were released, the most popular of which featured country singer Billy Ray Cyrus. Nas X came out as gay while "Old Town Road" was atop the Hot 100, becoming the only artist to do so while having a number-one record. Following the success of "Old Town Road", Nas X released his debut EP, titled 7, which spawned two further singles, with "Panini" peaking at number 5 on the Hot 100 and "Rodeo" peaking at number 22. In 2020, he released the single "Holiday" which peaked at number 37 on the Hot 100.
Nas X was the most-nominated male artist at the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards, where he ultimately won awards for Best Music Video and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance. "Old Town Road" earned him two MTV Video Music Awards including Song of the Year; the American Music Award for Favorite Rap/Hip Hop Song; and Nas X is the first openly LGBTQ black artist to win a Country Music Association award.Time named him as one of the 25 most influential people on the Internet in 2019, and he was named on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in 2020.
Last Updated: June 9, 2021
