How Lil Nas X became more than a ‘One Hit Wonder’
All of us witnessed Lil Nas X’s meteoric rise in 2019 with the viral ‘Old Town Road’, many dismissed it as luck but in actuality it was a carefully orchestrated rise enabled by Nas X who flooded the internet with memes and had been managing and growing twitter Stan accounts for Nicki Minaj. (https://nym.ag/3EImxd8)
While he gave enough evidence to prove that he was a master marketer and a talented musician with a knack for a sound which caters to the masses, Nas X was often dismissed as a ‘One Hit Wonder’. Looking back, we know Nas has come a long way in these 2 years as he dropped a successful project ‘Montero’ which was received well by both the masses and critics. The latter coming as a surprise.
But what went right? How did Nas X avoid becoming another ‘Vanilla Ice’ or ‘Lil Pump’ as a more recent example. Read on for my take.
VIRAL WIZARDRY
Lil Nas X was a master at manufacturing viral social media announcements which got traction not only with his fans but also got picked up by popular hip-hop pages and publications. An example of this was the revelatory image he posted which got everyone wondering if he actually got implants. And just like that Nas X was the most talked about artist in the game. (https://bit.ly/2W7hMZm)
Another example of the above was the apparent pregnancy of Nas X out of which his album ‘Montero’ was born. (See Image)
BACKING UP VIRALITY WITH CONTENT THAT STICKS
While his breakout single ‘Old Town Road’ didn’t have a solid storyline that Nas X was trying to portray. His tracks and music videos after that have been highly conceptual and often dive deep into topics close to Nas X. This took him from a viral artist who made a fun song to someone who stands for the LGBTQ community and delivers solid content through music and video. This gave him longevity as he could no longer be dismissed as just another ‘lil’ rapper.
He is seen speaking about him growing up as a gay African-American kid and shows his vulnerable side as he talks about his insecurities on the track ‘Sun Goes Down’. (https://bit.ly/3zyUGIE)
MAKING HATERS WORK IN HIS FAVOUR
The fact that Nas X belongs to a minority LGBTQ community gets him haters in the form of homophobic people and religious fundamentalists across the internet. While most artists choose to ignore the noise and move on, Nas X takes every chance to piss his haters off. Montero (Call Me by Your Name) was essentially a clapback to them. (https://bit.ly/3AGxmdC). Haters are essentially Nas X’s best publicists and he is making them work overtime.
Haters are essentially Nas X’s best publicists and he is making them work overtime.
EXTENDING ‘THE MOMENT’ WITH ANCILLARY CONTENT
Lil Nas X masterfully extended his run with ‘Old Town Road’ by staying in the news and pushing remixes with the country music legend ‘Billy Ray Cyrus’ and a remix of the remix with Young Thug and TikTok viral ‘Walmart Yodelling Kid’ Mason Ramsey. Thus extending the life of the original track.
A similar strategy was in play with Montero (Call me by your name) as Lil Nas X dropped various versions (See Image) of the track on YouTube while reengaging fans on TikTok and Twitter with memes. This kept the song alive and extended the life of the ‘viral moment’.
All in all, the above strategies along with Nas X’s immense musical and marketing talent has made him one of the hottest artists in the game. He is over-hated because of his distinctive image and championing of gay rights along with portrayal of satanic symbolism, which is something he has miraculously turned to work in his favor.
Lil Nas X is rightly celebrated but at the same time over-hated. ‘R.A the Rugged Man’ put it best when he said ‘Did they care when “call me Lucifer” was said by Mick Jagger?’ . (Watch)