Lil Nas X released “World’s Greatest!” and its music video Oct. 1, his first new single in about a year and a half, theGrio reported. He dedicated it to his mother, Tamikia Hill, who died in August.
The rapper, whose legal name is Montero Lamar Hill, wrote the song on his own. C.WRAY and Steve Rusch produced it, Stereogum reported. The outlet called the track “an upbeat pan-genre pop song.”
He teased it Sept. 30 with an Instagram clip of himself on his bed, playing an old voicemail from his mother. Gayety covered that clip when it went up.
“Don’t give up. Never give up,” she says in the message, REVOLT reported. She tells him to “keep your head up, continue to walk by faith, not by sight.”
His caption picked up that line. “‘Walk by faith, not by sight’ was my mom’s favorite phrase to say,” he wrote.
Phillip Youmans Directed the ‘World’s Greatest!’ Video in Atlanta
The video runs about six minutes. Phillip Youmans directed it in Atlanta, where Lil Nas X grew up.
It starts in a dance studio, mid-rehearsal. “You keep doing the same thing,” his trainer tells him, according to Paste. From there it cuts back and forth between the present and staged scenes from his childhood, with a young boy playing him.
His mother’s voicemail plays at the end. So does a dedication to her that reads, in part, “Love u forever, mommy,” REVOLT reported.
Tamikia Hill’s Death and Lil Nas X’s Bipolar Disorder Update
Lil Nas X shared the news of his mother’s death in late August with a set of family photos. “RIP TO THE BADDEST EVER! LOVE U FOREVER MOMMY. This one’s gonna hurt,” he wrote in a post he later took down, REVOLT reported. No cause of death has been made public, theGrio reported.
The single is also his first since a June video in which he said he’d been getting treatment. “I’ve been in rehab for a few months,” he said, ABC News reported. He said he’d been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and had resisted the idea for years because “I didn’t want to have to take medication.”
“I’m doing better. I’m feeling better. I’m creating freely, and there’s less fear in my heart,” he said then. He also promised “there is new music on the way.” Gayety reported on that update in June.
In April, Judge Alan Schneider let him enter a mental health diversion program, The Associated Press reported. He had pleaded not guilty to four felony counts after an August 2025 encounter with Los Angeles police. The court found the incident stemmed from his bipolar disorder, which was diagnosed afterward. If he sticks with treatment and stays out of legal trouble for two years, the charges will be dismissed.
Before this single, his most recent project was the 2025 EP “Days Before Dreamboy,” according to mxdwn.
