Lil Nas X offered his honest thoughts about embattled rapper DaBaby, who’s repeatedly apologized for the seemingly homophobic comments he made about HIV/AIDS at Miami’s Rolling Loud festival earlier this year.
DaBaby’s remarks nearly derailed his career. Numerous festivals — including Lollapalooza and New York’s Governors Ball — gave him the boot, and he was lambasted by fellow artists such as Megan Thee Stallion and his “Levitating”collaborator, Dua Lipa.
Lil Nas X, who is openly gay, spoke to GQ about the controversy and said he’s more focused on why DaBaby said what he said. While the remarks may have been upsetting, the “Montero” rapper feels the controversy exposes a problem within his industry.
“I’m not going to lie, I feel bad for DaBaby. I hope he grows from it. I hope he’s able to,” said LNX. “I try to remember: Sometimes we’re raised in ways that really shape how we see people. I’m always trying to be forgiving of people and understand that they treat people a certain way because they think they’re doing the right thing.”
The Grammy winner also offered his assessment of hip-hop, remarking that “the whole landscape is very hypermasculine.”
However, he doesn’t see this being the status quo for much longer, telling GQ, “It’s so great and so amazing that all these female rappers are breaking through. And, in a way, female rappers are the biggest rappers right now.”
He continued, “I do feel like this newer generation of rappers who are coming in, and the ones who are here, are going to have to reshape their thoughts. Because change is happening.”
That change, he says, will open the door to more trans and gay rappers — and, he predicts, “Ten years from now, everything that I’m doing won’t even seem like it was shocking.”
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