How did Lil Nas X get his name?
Often, rappers pick a stage name to better suit their image or offer something a bit snappier to the masses. Jay-Z, Eminem, 50 Cent, and Dr. Dre are examples of some of the biggest and most successful figures opting for something different from their birth certificates. The decision for Lil Nas X to be Lil Nas X, however, doesn’t have much relevant meaning behind it.
Nas X’s real name is Montero Lamar Hill, named after the Mitsubishi Montero, an SUV introduced in 1981 and discontinued in 2021. The car was actually called the Mitsubishi Pajero, but it was known as the Montero in North America, Spain and Latin America due to “pajero” meaning “wanker” in Spanish.
He was born on April 9th, 1999, in Atlanta, Georgia. At six years old, his parents got divorced, and he moved to the Bankhead area of the city, where he lived in the Bankhead Courts housing project (which no longer exists) with his mother and grandmother. Just a few years later, he moved to Austell, Georgia, with his father to escape crossing paths with the wrong crowd.
X’s musical beginnings can be traced back to his father, who was a gospel singer. He started playing the trumpet in Year 4 and was the first chair by middle school before dropping music altogether to as it wasn’t a “cool” interest to others. After graduating from Lithia Springs High School, he went on to study computer science at the University of West Georgia, but eventually quit and returned to his true passion: music.
While attempting to make it in music, he worked at the Six Flags Over Georgia theme park and Zaxby’s restaurants to make ends meet while living with his sister. He released ‘Old Town Road‘, the song that put him on the map, in December 2018 after buying the beat for just $30. Nas made memes around the song, and it eventually went viral on TikTok in 2019. It’s now one of the biggest singles of all time, topping the Hot 100 for a record-breaking 19 weeks in a row.
So, how did Lil Nas X get his stage name?
Lil Nas X once joked that the idea behind the name was to steal three different rap names and combine them into one. While that isn’t actually correct, there was some truth to it. The “Lil” part of his name derives from the common use in hip-hop, with the likes of Lil Wayne, Lil Baby, Lil Yachty, Lil Durk, Lil B and Lil Kim among some of the most popular examples.
The second part of his name, “Nas,” doesn’t require much of an explanation either. He was inspired by Queenbridge rapper Nas, who is best known for his classic album Illmatic in 1994. The pair ended up working together on a remix of the song “Rodeo” in 2020, and they performed on stage together at the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards.
As for the third and final part of his name, “X,” there doesn’t appear to be any rhyme or reason behind it. He simply added a letter to the end to bring it all together.