Worlds 2022 is right around the corner, and it’s looking like American rapper/singer Lil Nas X might be heading the next League of Legends musical collaboration.
The first hint of these potential tunes comes from Lil Nas X’s own Twitter account. Last month the rapper posted a photo of him sitting at a desk set up that looks identical to the ones at Riot HQ. In the image you can see an obscured splash art for Miss Fortune, an open Riot client in the taskbar, and Riot development icons on the left computer’s desktop. This out-of-the-blue tweet expectedly stirred up a ton of League and Lil Nas X fans. YouTube channel Big Bad also posted an in-depth video bringing all of the background League signifiers into the light.
Backing up this evidence is a recent Reddit post showcasing a League of Legends Worlds 2022 ad on a Lil Nas X tour pamphlet. The ad reads “Why worship legends when you know that you can join em?” – Lil Nas X, Worlds 2022.
Since 2014, every League of Legends World Championship has had a theme song to set the tone for the most intense competitive League matches.
From Imagine Dragons’ pop rock Warriors anthem to Ignite by the coincidentally named Zedd, absolutely none of these tracks have been created by a black artist or featured hip hop, RnB, or rap. This could very well be Lil Nas X’s time to shine on Summoner’s Rift.
In addition, there is a rumor circulating that Lil Nas X is also voicing the upcoming top laner K’Sante, a dark skinned man from Shurima. But unlike a musical collab this seems like an unsupported reach. Even though this idea is awesome, the timeline of Lil Nas X’s photos and the general production schedule for a champion unfortunately don’t add up.
If Lil Nas X creates League of Legends‘ Worlds 2022 theme he will be the first black person to do so. And I hope he does, because having a black artist will definitely pierce through the rock/electronic daze that Riot Music so often finds itself wading in. The League community can get toxic, and if this Lil Nas X collab materializes it will unfortunately and inevitably draw the racists out. But they can stay mad.
[Disclaimer: Both Riot Games and Fanbyte are owned by the same parent company, Tencent. We don’t often, like, chill together or anything, though.]
