Atlanta rap star Young Thug has a long history of challenging rap’s gender norms; he was, after all, the guy who wore a dress on his album cover. Last week, Young Thug appeared on Lil Nas X’s new “Old Town Road” remix, alongside country child star Mason Ramsey. The remix appeared shortly after Lil Nas X came out as gay. And in a new interview, Young Thug says that he thinks Lil Nas X made a mistake: “He shouldn’t have told the world.”

As Hot New Hip-Hop points out, Thug spoke with the No Jumper podcaster (and accused predator) Adam22 earlier this month, backstage at London’s Wireless Festival. The interview went up yesterday, but Thug did it before the “Old Town Road” remix came out. When Thug talks about Lil Nas X coming out, he’s not doing it from a homophobic perspective. He says again and again how much he likes Lil Nas X; he has genuine concern for all the backlash that the younger rapper will now face. Thug has faced plenty of backlash himself, but it’s still a surprising sentiment. Here’s what Thug says:

I feel like he probably shouldn’t have told the world. He shouldn’t have told the world. These days, motherfuckers, it’s just all judgment. Motherfuckers is just judging. It ain’t even about the music no more. Once you found out he was gay, as soon as the song come on now, everybody like, “This gay-ass nigga.” Niggas don’t even care to listen to the song no more… It’s just like, to certain people, you know what I’m saying?…

I just feel like he young, and backlash can come behind anything. [His coming out] wasn’t a bad idea, and it was most definitely the best time to do it, during Pride. That was the best time to do it. That was a G’s move. But he young, and I know he going to be dealing with it in his mind. I dealt with this shit before. I know what he dealing with. So I was like, “Fuck, he should have never said that, never should have told them.

Thug repeats, over and over, how much he likes and supports Lil Nas X. Shortly after making that statement, he adds this:

I really fuck with Lil Nas X. He already showed me the most respect by saying that I inspired him. So I ain’t even caring to get in his way. I want him to get, like, a trillion dollars. I want him to get more money than me.

And earlier in the interview, Thug also talks about how much he “adores” the younger generation of rappers:

[Lil Nas X is] just a young nigga. It ain’t even about being black. I don’t care if it’s black or white, purple. He’s just a young nigga chasing dreams. People can look like it’s overnight, but shit, this nigga can probably show you videos, making music in the studio in 2014…

I don’t judge no new — him, Pump, nobody. I don’t care what they rap about. They ain’t gotta make sense. They ain’t gotta rap about the struggle. Nothing to me. I just adore what they thinking.

Thug also makes some surprising statements about Chicago emo-rap star Juice WRLD, comparing him to peak-era Lil Wayne. In the same interview, he also speaks at length on his admiration for Juice WRLD:

[Juice WRLD is] probably like that 2006 to 2009 Lil Wayne. He that nigga. So I be trying to make him, like, I watched all Wayne’s mistakes. The shit that had something to do with him was a mistake that ain’t even had nothing to do with him. I just see the story of all of that. I watch all them mistakes and try not to make them. That’s why my relationship is so tight with [Juice WRLD]. I look at him like that — like damn, bro, you really, goddam. Because this nigga really can freestyle. He really don’t write. If you give him a subject, he’ll rap right now. He’s going to say metaphors, and he’s going to say punchlines. It’s going to be like: “You got something you wrote.” No. Nigga rap about Pikachu…

[Juice WRLD is] so young, and he been caught up on so many TV shows and games and so much knowledge — new-school knowledge. You can’t compete with him. Because he’s going to say shit. Like, he’s really going to know about Tarzan. And we only know about Tarzan as a goddam handsome guy in the jungle with animals. But he really watches Tarzan. He’s a kid. So he’s going to be able to say a name that’s another character in Tarzan that we’ll never know. He’ll be able to say this name, and he’ll be able to freestyle it like [snaps fingers], on the real beats. You can’t compete.

He knows too much. He knows all the fucking Dragon Ball Z characters. This nigga know all the Nickelodeon shows. He knows everything that’s ever happened on TV for kids, these niggas get in tune with. That’s why they videos… He’s just one of the ones. He’s smart as a motherfucker. He’ll never run out of nothing to say because he’s that smart.

In the interview, Young Thug also compares his recent protege Lil Keed to Lil Wayne, and he says that his own new album, which will arrive soon, might be called So Much Fun. Here’s the interview; the comments about Lil Nas X coming out are around the 15:03 mark:

In other Lil Nas X news, he’s currently teasing another “Old Town Road” remix, which could feature a whole lot of people.

WHO READY?!??!?! 🐎⚡️ pic.twitter.com/0W8n2DayW4

— nope (@LilNasX) July 15, 2019

Mariah Carey and Smash Mouth have volunteered.

One Sweet Town Road! https://t.co/Y30tSz2Fhw pic.twitter.com/viPrYNAnfM

— Mariah Carey (@MariahCarey) July 13, 2019

lets do it https://t.co/9xvbWf8ogA

— Smash Mouth (@smashmouth) July 13, 2019