Lil Nas X Turns Elmos Song Into A Banger On The Not-Too-Late Show

Everyone likes Lil Nas X . That’s not a verifiable fact, but it’s probably mostly true, the reason being that he’s just a generally likeable guy. 

In fact, Lil Nas X is so liked by regular, mortal human beings that even characters from children’s television shows can’t resist liking him: he was just the musical guest of honour on the inaugural episode of “The Not-Too-Late Show With Elmo,” which was just made available through HBO Max.

If you don’t know who Lil Nas X is, here’s a quick primer: He’s the breakout American rapper whose 2019 song “Old Town Road” went viral and effectively broke the internet after it was spread all over TikTok like wildfire and got a crowning feature from Billy Rae Cyrus.

And since Nas has already remixed that song at least a dozen times — a fact he frequently jokes about — it makes complete sense that he’d lend his talent for repurposing to a signature song from Sesame Street … and which better song to do that with than “Elmo’s Song?” 

In the full show segment , Elmo parades Nas out onto the stage and has him perform an autotuned, hip-hop inflected version of the beloved song for the audience. The band plays, and Elmo provides some supporting vocals. Then, “Elmo’s Song” delightfully becomes “Lil Nas X’s Song,” and the studio audience applauds.

Nas is no stranger to performing for children. The rapper sang “Old Town Road” in a school gymnasium for a bunch of screaming kids last year. 

And Lil Nas X wasn’t the only guest on “The Not-Too-Late Show With Elmo.” Kacey Musgraves, the Grammy award-winning country singer, also appeared, to do a rendition of the song “Rubber Duckie” on her acoustic guitar.

To Jimmy Fallon, Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel, and all the other adults who have late-night talk shows with big musical guests: be careful, Elmo is coming for your spot.