Lil Nas X Surpasses DaBaby in Monthly Spotify Listeners

In a hilarious and righteous turn of events, out-and-proud Lil Nas X surpassed newly-out homophobe DaBaby in monthly Spotify listeners last week, further showing that DaBaby’s anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and half-assed, now-deleted Instagram apology are behind the times. Lil Nas X hit 52 million, surpassing DaBaby’s 51.8 million mark.

wow this is insane. this is the most i’ve ever had in my career. thank u to everybody listening. ???? https://t.co/JbCmp8QFN3

— nope ???????? (@LilNasX) August 10, 2021

Lil Nas X made headlines regularly throughout the year as an openly gay, Black rapper who has fully embraced his sexuality with little reluctance to snap back on homophobes trying to dull his shine. His video for “Call Me By Your Name,” a dig on homophobic Christian rhetoric preaching LGBTQ people as doomed to burn in Hell, was met with backlash. Critics were quick to call him Satanic, as he used the harmful rhetoric aimed at LGBTQ people for years against those same people weaponizing their religion to promote bigotry.

He followed the video with a performance of the song during the BET Awards which ended with an onscreen kiss with a male dancer. And though commercials, print and advertising media, and pretty much everything in the modern world consistently pushes heterosexual intimacy to anyone with two eyes, two men sharing a kiss was clearly too much for some viewers to handle, with outcries that seem frankly decades-old, calling the display inappropriate and pornographic. Lil Nas X was quick to clap back on Twitter, ultimately saying in an interview with People that the move was intentional and meant to challenge the continued prevalence of casual, anti-LGBTQ rhetoric.

DaBaby, on the other hand, made headlines recently for a different reason. While he performed at Rolling Loud in Miami, rather than, you know, just telling people to make some noise if they were having a good time, he shouted to the audience, “If you didn’t show up today with HIV, AIDS, any of them deadly sexually transmitted diseases that’ll make you die in two or three weeks, put your cellphone light in the air.”

He continued with a secondary message surely anyone would think to mention next, telling the ladies to put their lights in the air if their pussy smells like water, and encouraged fellas do to the same, so long as they aren’t sucking dick in the parking lot.

Immediately following the backlash, he threw a tantrum fitting of his stupid stage name, telling his critics to “shut the fuck up” and that what he said doesn’t “translate” to people who weren’t at the festival. I guess you had to be there.

His tone quickly changed, only after a number of festivals began dropping the rapper. As Out so eloquently stated in an enviable headline, “DaBaby is Losing DaMoney and DaBookings After Homophobic Rant.”

Once his comments actually started affecting his money, DaBaby took it upon himself to issue an amended apology (which is clearly sincere, even though he’s since deleted it from his Instagram page), “I want to apologize to the LGBTQ+ community for the hurtful and triggering comments I made. Again, I apologize for my misinformed comments about HIV/AIDS and I know education on this is important.” The statement came just days after DaBaby was openly criticizing those holding him accountable and standing by his initial comments.

Fans rejoiced online, feeling a sense of poetic justice and resilience of LGBTQ joy and Pride.

if this isn’t the gay agenda then idk what is https://t.co/TNVrmvt9OX

— Zack ???? (@patolaney15) August 11, 2021

Get his homophobic ass king https://t.co/rZ1NieOKxM

— Joe-dah-lay-dee-hoo (@promemester) August 11, 2021

Lil Nas X hinted that he might return to his cowboy era following his current, self-described “gay era,” but it’s undeniable that, in his short time in the spotlight, he has made a huge, positive impact on the community, challenging the mainstream to get with the times.