Lil Nas X’s father says intense pressure from fame contributed to his son’s recent arrest.
Robert Stafford told The Times of London that the Aug. 21 incident, in which the 26-year-old rapper was found wandering naked in Los Angeles and allegedly charged at police officers attempting to take him into custody, was a reaction to the demands of public life.
“I understand how the music business is,” said Stafford, 56, a gospel singer from Atlanta. “It’s like a high. When you get to that level, you want that drug again, you want to hit that high again.”
The performer, whose real name is Montero Lamar Hill, was arrested last month and charged with four felonies. He pleaded not guilty to three felony counts of battery with injury to a police officer and one count of resisting an executive officer. Police said that on the morning of Aug. 21, Hill was found wearing only cowboy boots, and when officers arrived, he allegedly charged at them and was taken into custody.
Authorities transported Hill to a nearby hospital for a suspected overdose before booking him into jail, where he was held over the weekend. He was released on $75,000 bond, on the condition that he attend drug treatment. If convicted, he faces up to five years in prison.
Stafford said the pressure to follow up the success of Hill’s debut single, “Old Town Road,” along with the responsibility of supporting his family, weighed heavily on his son. “For a 26-year-old to have to deal with what he’s dealing with — to be a breadwinner for a lot of people, the inability to change his mother’s situation and the pressure he puts on himself,” Stafford said, reportedly referring to the addiction struggles of Hill’s mother, Tameka Hill, who has so far declined her son’s offers for help.
“That can weigh heavily on your heart,” Stafford said, adding that it was painful to see his son’s “worst moment” broadcast worldwide due to Hill’s celebrity. Stafford said he immediately flew to Los Angeles to support his son, breaking down in tears when he saw Hill in a jail jumpsuit.
“I went to visit him in jail, and as soon as I walked through that door, I couldn’t do anything but cry,” Stafford said. “To see my baby boy on the other side of that glass. We shed tears with each other for a minute. And I had to tell him that what you’re going through is normal. We all have breakdowns every now and then, but the difference is, yours get played out in the public eye.”
Stafford said it was distressing to watch footage of the incident, but he realized that his son was struggling. “When I went to visit, he asked me to say, ‘tell everybody I’m sorry they saw me like that.’ Even in that moment, he was apologizing to people for something he was going through,” Stafford told The Times.
Hill addressed the incident on Instagram last week, describing the arrest as “terrifying,” but told fans, “your girl is gonna be alright.” Stafford said he believes his son will recover and that the arrest served as a wake-up call.
“Hopefully, this is a turning point in his mental stability,” Stafford said. “Sometimes God will take you through your worst moment to give you your best moment.”
