He planned to hide his sexuality before his cowboy hit Old Town Road made him a superstar at 19. Now the rapper is ready to embrace life as a queer figurehead
When Lil Nas X was growing up in the small, conservative community of Lithia Springs outside Atlanta, Georgia, he was sure of two things. One: he wanted to be an entertainer. Two: he would never come out of the closet. Only one of those predictions proved to be true.
As a teenager who blasted SoundCloud rappers in his headphones and spent all his free time scrolling through
Twitter, Lil Nas X quickly learned that it was easier to blend in than risk being different. He knew people who had come out at high school, and saw the pain, bullying and homophobia they experienced. He told himself he wasn’t cut out for it. So he dressed in his cousin’s hand-me-downs and, when he could afford them, purchased safe, muted clothes from Zara and H&M. He watched
fashion shows on his
smartphone, but never thought he would be brave or rich enough to wear such explicitly queer outfits.