Lil Nas X keeps talking about the backlog of songs he’s sitting on, so Wednesday night (April 17) the MC snuck out a track that has been floating around for several years in snippet form, the punchy “Lean On My Body.”
“I know I’m 10 years late but I’m dropping lean on my body in a couple minutes,” he tweeted around dinnertime in a post that also included the original minute-long March 2022 in which Montero rapped a verse from the song while walking on a treadmill.
“You know I love you, so I say this s–t with love/ But please tell your fans they need to shut the f–k up/ I’m doin’ real s–t, some never-worry-’bout-a-bill s–t/ Some build a house on the hill, s–t/ The money’s gravy, it’s coming crazy,” he raps, adding the swaggy lines, “My big sis just had another baby, popped ’em out the labia/ My other nephew sittin’ in the class with a broken knuckle/ He had to beat a ni–a ass for talkin’ ’bout his uncle.”
Now, Lil Nas continues, he doesn’t condone that kind of violent behavior, then quickly changes his mind, counseling, “F–k it, yeah, I said it, I condone thats–t/ Choke that ni–a out/ Go corona on that b–ch/ Walk that ni–a like a dog, nephew own that b–ch.” The chorus leans into a gospel vibe with a heavenly choir of Monteros singing, “Lean on my body, Lord (Amen, amen, amen)\ Bring blessings on my soul (Amen, amen, amen)/ And when the war is over (Thank you)/ See it’s time to tell the world the war is won.”
Lil Nas has been teasing that his upcoming mixtape, Nasarati 2, is just around the corner, but at press time there was no firm release date for the follow-up to the 2018 original. Last week he posted the hard-hitting “Right There,” which he first previewed in an Instagram Story in February.
Lil Nas has been candid about the struggle to choose songs for the tape amid concerns over his fans’ perceptions of his music. Earlier this year, he wrote on Instagram, “Been hoarding music for years smh i hate my relationship with fear of my songs not doing well and perception. i wish i could just release music and not give af.” That said, he has also dumped a handful of snippets on fans to see what their reaction is in an apparent effort to aid in his track-picking.
After posting “Lean,” a fan named Mya commented, “these songs are literally hits it’s insane he’s not putting them on all streaming platforms…,” to which Lil Nas responded, “I just want yall to enjoy the music for now. We gone get to that!”
Listen to the full “Lean On My Body” and watch the rebooted teaser below.
