Lil Nas X is back with new music. The rapper released “World’s Greatest,” his first single in more than a year and a half, on Thursday, October 1, after revealing in June that he had spent months in rehab following a bipolar disorder diagnosis.

He announced the song on September 30 with an emotional video featuring a voicemail from his late mother, Tamikia Hill, who died in August. In the 44-second clip, she urges him to “walk by faith, not by sight” and to “never give up.”

“Walk by faith, not by sight was my mom’s favorite phrase to say,” he wrote when sharing the post. “As I move through life it resonates more & more. This one’s for the World’s Greatest.”

Written by Nas and produced by C. WRAY and Steve Rusch, the single is a tribute to his resilience. The six-minute music video, filmed in his hometown of Atlanta and directed by Phillip Youmans, intercuts present-day rehearsal scenes with dramatised childhood moments and closes with his mother’s voicemail.

The release marks a new chapter after a difficult phase that included a 2025 arrest and, in April, a court agreement to dismiss felony counts if he continues outpatient treatment.