Lil Nas X ‘Montero’ Review: A Test of Talent

[peekaboo]

After ‘Old Town Road’ catapulted him to fame, the rapper and singer releases his debut album.

Lil Nas X performing at the 2021 MTV Video Music Awards earlier this month

PHOTO: ANGELA WEISS/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES

Rapper and singer Lil Nas X—born Montero Hill, raised in and around Atlanta—had the kind of career launch that’s the stuff of both dreams and nightmares. In 2018, he was young (he’d turned 19 years old in April), directionless (he’d dropped out of college) and extremely online—he spent much of his time entertaining himself on Twitter, where he ran a popular fan account dedicated to Nicki Minaj. His adventures in pop fandom allowed him to study the mechanics of social-media virility, and he put those skills to use. He’d already been toying with making his own music and put out a now-forgotten mixtape, but he noticed a trend of rappers riffing on elements of country and decided to see if he could make his own version. After buying a cheap instrumental from a producer on YouTube he put together “Old Town Road,” which, thanks to memes shared on TikTok and Twitter, picked up steam. 

In 2019, the song became a full-blown phenomenon. Pop-country singer Billy Ray Cyrus, often dismissed as a one-hit wonder, joined for a remix, and “Old Town Road” stayed at No. 1 on the Hot 100 for a record 19 consecutive weeks and ignited debates about race and genre when it topped the Hot Country Songs chart and was then removed because, according to Billboard, it wasn’t an aesthetic fit. The quickly assembled “7” EP, released right around the time Nas came out as gay, featured two versions of his hit song and another song, “Rodeo,” that was a self-conscious attempt to extend his country-trap fusion. It was commercially successful but artistically feeble, and the rapper’s success had outstripped his musical development. How much good music did he actually have in him? 

“Montero” (Columbia), his just-released debut LP, seeks to answer this question. Here, Nas has partnered with the production duo Take a Daytrip— Denzel Baptiste and David Biral —on an album that slides among rap, pop and R&B with some rock-leaning tracks and a few country touches. While it doesn’t quite work as a whole—a run of ballads in the back half is a little dull—Nas manages some fine lyrics and his voice, while limited, adapts well to a variety of settings. 

“Montero” already has two monster singles—“Montero (Call Me by Your Name)” hit No. 1 in the spring, and “Industry Baby” reached No. 2 in August. A controversial high-concept music video for the former, which featured the rapper giving Satan a lap dance while wearing thigh-high boots, amplified its success. The clip and later television performances also clarified Nas’s creative persona as a provocative champion of queer desire who delivers outrageous imagery with a cheerful wink. In interviews, he has said that he grew up loathing himself for his sexuality and here he celebrates it. The album is largely about taking ownership of who he is and using his elevated platform to share his story. Having grown up in an environment where it felt safer to conceal the fact that he was gay, he now hopes to reach young people struggling in similar situations. “Montero (Call Me by Your Name),” with its irresistible syncopated beat, interwoven hooks, and cleverly filthy lyrics, is a deserved smash and opens the album in grand fashion.

But Nas immediately pivots from the party atmosphere to tackle more somber topics. The second song, “Dead Right Now,” with rolling trap drums and visceral bass, touches on his painful past—his mother has struggled with substance abuse—and the daunting math he faced when he first pursued music (“Left school, then my dad and I had a face-to-face in Atlanta / He said, ‘It’s one in a million chance, son,’ I told him, ‘Daddy, I am that one’”). Pensive and triumphant, with gospel-style backing vocals, it’s clearly in the lineage of Kanye West, one of Nas’s heroes. Mr. West contributes songwriting and production to the following “Industry Baby” featuring rapper Jack Harlow, which makes an impression with its pummeling repetition but grates after a few listens. And “That’s What I Want” is one of a few stabs at pure pop mixed with a touch of rock that are ultimately rather generic. “Lost in the Citadel” a few songs later is a stronger take on a similar musical idea.

Lil Nas X

Photo: Charlotte Rutherford

Nas smartly tackles his unusual fame head on. “One of Me” is a ballad with a piano part played by Elton John that lays out the pressure and fear the younger artist felt after his meteoric rise (“Word on the block is you fell off and I’m just sayin’ / If it ain’t ‘Old Town Road,’ Lil Nassy, ain’t playin’”). On the brooding “Tales of Dominica,” Nas turns toward the cathartic howl of emo rap, which fuses hip-hop structure with the angst of alternative rock. He illustrates the hurt and confusion of his early years of family strife and poverty with striking imagery (“Woke up on the floor / Oh, this plastic bed don’t blow up no more”). 

Starting with track 11, “Sun Goes Down,” the album becomes slower and more introspective. While this section has some of the album’s best lyrics, it’s also the weakest stretch musically—the melodies are lacking and he’s not a good enough singer to compensate. Closing the LP is “Am I Dreaming,” a tender acoustic duet with Miley Cyrus. It’s a nice full-circle moment, since her father helped put “Old Town Road” over the top, but it’s not very memorable as a song. Heard straight through, “Montero” is far from a great record, but it does have moments of real greatness that demonstrate his depth and range. So for Lil Nas X it does what it needs to do— it definitively confirms that his talent is real and he’s not going away anytime soon.