Montero Lamar Hill (born April 9, 1999), known as Lil Nas X (/nɑːz/ NAHZ), is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter.[4] He came to international attention for his country rap single "Old Town Road", which first achieved viral popularity on the micro-platform video sharing app TikTok in early 2019, and was Diamond certified by November the same year.[a][5][6][7] The song reached number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 and remained there for nineteen weeks, the longest for any song since the chart debuted in 1958.[8][9][10][11] In June 2019, Nas X came out as gay, the only artist ever to have done so while having a number-one record.[12][13] "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 only openly LGBTQ artist to win a Country Music Association award.[14][15][16] He won two Grammy Awards, for Best Music Video and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance along with being nominated for a total of six, the most for any male in 2019.[17][18] TIME placed him on their inaugural TIME 100 Next list.[19] Nas X was also named by Forbes on their 2020 30 under 30 list
