As Lil Nas X's "Old Town Road"—which recently saw an unreleased Lil Wayne remix debuted at Lollapalooza—continues its historic Billboard Hot 100 reign, the current Paper magazine cover star is speaking on his approach to cultivating positivity online.
In the piece in question, X's infamous alleged connection with the now-defunct @NasMaraj Twitter account is mentioned by writer Stephanie Smith-Strickland. Though X doesn't appear to have subsequently been asked directly about the account's previous practices, he does offer some insight on how his views regarding the garnering of online attention has changed.
"I do try to stay positive online," X said before alluding to his past approach. "I'll ask myself, 'Is this going to offend somebody?' before I do it. A lot of the stuff I used to do years before would sometimes go too far. I know I have a platform now, so there's more of a need to make sure nothing is hurtful or too crazy. Even dealing with mean people, I can do it because I understand them. I used to sometimes say mean shit for no reason. I know that when people say things they're just thoughts that might be there today but I'm not going to care about tomorrow. What am I even gaining from acknowledging it?"
Back in April, X called the whole thing "a big misunderstanding" in an interview with NPR.
Elsewhere in the full Paper piece, X also discusses other paths to viral success and why he chose to avoid them. "I would watch a lot of musicians try to come up by doing crazy stuff and using outrageous behavior to keep attention," he said. "I even thought about doing that, like maybe busting a car window or something to get attention, but I knew I could do it without making everything into a stunt."
X also spoke on his belief in signs, specifically pointing out the presence of the numbers 7 and 9 surrounding his decision to come out. "I was originally going to do it at Pride because I saw a banner that said, 'LA Pride, June 7 -9,' and I was like, 'Wow, there goes the numbers again,'" he said. "And then my sister ended up having her baby on the ninth, so nine became my number for family."
Speaking further on his family, X said they are currently "working on coming back together." Read the full thing here.
X's breakthrough hit "Old Town Road" became the longest running No. 1 in Billboard Hot 100 history in late July, adding another week to that record with the latest charts update.
