Lil Nas X took inspiration from young Black artists like Frank Ocean and Tyler, the Creator when coming out.
The “Panini” rapper recently caught up with Zane Lowe of Apple Music. Nas X, 21, credited the artists that gave him the confidence to come out as gay.
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“Artists like Frank and Tyler made it easier for me to be where I am, comfortably,” he said, adding that Ocean’s 2017 song “Provider” was “a very special song to me during this relationship I was in.”
“I was just getting signs, ‘Okay, it’s time to do this thing’. Because it’s like I’m already moving forward and I’m becoming more free with everything I do, so let’s take this to the next level and do this,” Nas said. “It was either going to be that, or what? Pretend this for the rest of my entire life?”
Nas X also hoped to become the role model for others that Ocean and Tyler were for him.
“Being one of those people that was like, ‘Okay, I want to make room for you now,'” he explained. “So everybody who’s coming behind me [will think], ‘This is going to be cool. It’s going to work out fine’.”
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“That’s another reason why I knew that I had to do it,” he concluded. “Especially given my platform, where I am, the communities that I stand in between. It’s like, little shit like this shouldn’t be a problem.”
Nas X released his latest track “Holiday” in November.
