He beautifully dragged Damien Hirst and Drake by recreating the latter’s album artwork he announced that he was expecting his “ little bundle of joy” Montero via a riff on Beyoncé’s 2017 pregnancy photo (today he’s “ given birth”) and – the best one – he set up satirical billboards in the style of legal ads to advertise the album, which read, “Gay? You might be entitled to financial compensation”. His innovation and quick-thinking sense of humour also led to an incredible pre-release campaign for Montero. Or when he released a fake apology video in anticipation of the furore surrounding his ‘Satan Shoes’ made from human blood – or even when he then mocked Nike’s subsequent lawsuit against him for customising the brand’s shoes. Take, for example, his Area 51 remix of “Old Town Road”, inspired by the ‘ Storm Area 51’ meme. In the years since, Lil Nas has continued to dominate the internet, always being on top of the memes of the moment. And, as they say, the rest is history “Old Town Road” is the longest-running number one ever and the most certified song in US history, and Lil Nas is a global superstar. As well as writing the song with “quotables in it”, Lil Nas leveraged TikTok to achieve its success. With all this knowledge in the bank, the rapper knew he needed to make a track that was meme-able – enter: “Old Town Road”. He began using Twitter memes to generate buzz around his Soundcloud, and set up hundreds of fake fan accounts to understand the kind of content people responded well to. Speaking to Dazed in 2019, Lil Nas explained that ahead of the release of “Old Town Road”, he was enjoying his “time on the internet more than doing things in real life”. Lil Nas’s career likely wouldn’t have reached such soaring heights if he wasn’t an internet aficionado. To celebrate Montero’s release, Dazed looks back at five times Lil Nas X ripped up music’s rule book, and established himself as one of the most exciting, unique, and important artists of the moment. In the two years since, he’s irrevocably altered music forever through his Extremely Online persona, marketing genius, refusal to cater to his critics ( instead choosing to mock them), and his triumphant position as a gay, Black man traversing the worlds of rap, country, and pop. The rapper, whose real name is Montero Hill, has become a generation-defining artist since his breakout hit “Old Town Road” was released in 2019. But, of course, it’s Lil Nas alone who stands out – his blockbuster debut meeting and exceeding its highly-set expectations.
Alongside the record-breaking title track, “ Montero (Call Me By Your Name)”, the album boasts collaborations with some of music’s biggest names, including Miley Cyrus, Doja Cat, Megan Thee Stallion, and Elton John. Montero contains 15 tracks, each of which is a standalone hit. After two years of waiting and three months of teasing, Lil Nas X’s debut album is finally here – and it’s landed with high-budget, cinematic videos for almost every song.