"I now have a platform and I can really have influence over what people see and hear and think about everything that's going on," Nas says on "The View."
While Lil Nas X hasn't always jumped in to political conversations, he told The View co-hosts on Tuesday (Jan. 12) that he's ready to change that.
"I definitely want to be more involved for the simple fact that I now have a platform and I can really have influence over what people see and hear and think about everything that's going on," he said in the new interview. "So even though it's definitely depressing sometimes, they are conversations that have to be had, you know?"
One of the earliest examples of the artist speaking up came in June 2019, when he decided to come out as gay at the height of his "Old Town Road" success. "I definitely wanted to be authentic from the start of my career," Nas said on The View. "And also become more comfortable and confident in myself. And I feel like that was a bandage that needed to be ripped off to get to that place."
Lil Nas X was on the show to promote his new children's book, C Is for Country, and he said his breakout song -- which spent a record-breaking 19 consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 -- led to the idea for the book.
"With the success of 'Old Town Road,' the majority of that success I would attribute to kids," he said. "They liked the song so much. The idea of this book was brought to me and I was like, 'This makes perfect sense.' So we got together, we did this book, and it came out amazing and it's beautiful and it's a cute little book."
Watch Lil Nas X's full interview on The View below:
