a two-time Grammy winner

and the record holder

for the longest-running

number 1 song in Billboard history.

He now has a new children's book,

called "C is for Country," which is available now

and, weirdly enough, this is also number 1 right now.

Here is Lil Nas X!

Hey, hey. You have the same book.

-What's up? Yes, I have the exact same book as you.

-This is a great one, man.

-Great. -It is so great to see you.

Thank you so much for coming on the show,

again, I will say, because

we got to do a Zoom a bit earlier,

but I didn't really get to meet you and talk to you.

But it was so much fun.

You were fantastic in that.

-Yeah, it was pretty fun, man.

It was great talking to you through the greenscreen.

-[ Laughs, claps ] Yeah.

Hey, what should I call you, by the way?

Should I call you Lil Nas X? -You can call me Nas

or Montero

-Oh, yeah. -or Nas.

-Your real name is Montero?

-Yeah. -Why didn't you use Montero

as a stage name?

-I didn't use Montero as a stage name

because like Nas was like my Internet alias

and then, when I started doing music,

I was like, "I want to have fun with this,"

and every new rapper's name, Lil, Lil, Lil.

"What if I was Lil Nas? Ha ha ha. That'd be funny."

So I was like, "Alright, bet.

I'll be Lil Nas.

And I added the "X" on later on.

Yeah, that's how it happened.

-Where does Montero come from?

-What is Montero? Uh! Okay.

It's slightly embarrassing, but I'm not embarrassed.

-Tell me. -So my mom wanted like the car,

the Montero, you know,

and she never got one. -What's a Montero?

-It's a Mitsubishi.

So, yeah, I'm named after a car.

-Wait. This is great.

So your mom -- I love that.

I did not know that story at all.

So she wanted the Montero, and she got you.

That's even better than a car. -Yeah.

She was like, "I'll settle for less."

-I want to talk about your latest single, "Holiday."

Just this week, it was certified gold!

And the music video,

which you co-directed, has almost --

and I'm not kidding -- 100 million views on YouTube.

It's... -Insane.

-Do you want to direct more?

I think you'd be great. -Word!

Of course, you know.

For our next, you know, video,

if we do the thing again next year.

It'd be great. -[ Laughing ] Oh, yeah.

Let's do that. Please.

I think you have bigger things to do

than me and you.

-[ Laughs ] -But talk about the new album.

Do you have one?

What's happening?

I know you were working on one.

-Yeah, I'm working on a new album.

It's all about sex and nothing else.

-Ooh! -I'm kidding. I'm kidding.

It's a pretty great album.

-[ Laughing ] -It's about all the things

I've been experiencing, like pre-fame and after

and what I expect to be experiences.

It's just a great album, overall,

I've been working on for like two years.

-Is there any details you can share?

Like maybe can you whisper

when you think it might be coming out?

-Yeah. This year.

That's a good one, you know.

That's a good day.

[ Drumming ] -Okay. I'll take it.

Definitely this year?

-Definitely this year. [ Thump ]

-At one point, you asked Twitter followers

to name your album.

Did anything stick?

-Nothing sticks.

I actually don't remember any of the names they said.

I think it was because all of my followers are trolls,

so it's probably just like

they were probably just trolling me back, honestly.

-Oh, yeah. They didn't take it serious.

I think they should. Let's see.

I'm trying to think if I can name it for you.

Well, I mean, "Montero." That's one.

-You know, that's actually a great name.

-Not bad, right?

-I think I'm gonna use that.

-So, do you have any idea what the album

will be called at this point?

-I honestly -- I don't know.

-Okay. -I don't know.

-I don't want to pressure you. I don't want to pressure.

I was researching before this interview,

and I saw that it's almost to the day

since your huge night at the Grammys.

Aside from winning two Grammys and performing,

what was the most memorable part of that night?

-The most memorable part of that night.

-You crushed it.

-Probably when I went to the strip club with Lizzo.

That was a pretty great time.

-You went to a strip club with Lizzo after the Grammys?

-Yeah. And they were, like, playing our songs and stripping.

-Whose idea was it? Yours or Lizzo's?

-I don't remember, actually. It was a crazy night.

-Dude, everything was crazy. It was so good.

And then you performed with BTS, too, which is --

I love those dudes, man.

Dude, they have the best fans, don't they?

The BTS Army? -They have a huge fan base.

Yeah. -Oh, it's awesome.

Would you ever do a song with BTS besides that?

-Of course. -Yeah.

-Of course. -I think you should.

I think you guys had some good chemistry there.

Let's talk about your book, "C is for Country."

I want to talk about this.

What inspired you to do this book?

-I just really wanted all the kids's money.

I'm kidding.

I wanted to -- I wanted to --

You know, with "Old Town Road" having such a big success

and kids being a big part of that, I was like,

"This makes so much sense," when the idea to do a book

was brought to me, to do a children's book,

and, like, make it, like, educational for these young kids

and still have, like,

you know, some pop-culture reference within it, you know?

-Yeah. -It's like the...

I feel like it would have even made more sense if

I would have just named it "Old Town Road,"

but, you know, it probably got lost in a lot of stuff.

-Well, "C is for Country" is perfect. It works.

And, I mean, you go through the --

It goes to the whole alphabet,

but I like the illustrations, as well.

But I like this, too.

There's the illustrations there, and we can see there.

And then it says, "'Y' is for 'y'all.'

We got love for everybody, no matter who you are

or where you're from or what you look like."

I think the thing I like about you --

that everyone likes about you -- is that I think the idea,

the ultimate message I get from you is positivity.

-Yeah, I'm pretty positive sometimes, you know?

-Sometimes. It depends. -Every now and then.

-Well, congrats on the book, buddy, and come back again

whenever you want, please.

Lil Nas X, everybody.

"C is for Country" available now!