All this time spent inside is a great reason to rethink past decisions, maybe like running a since-banned, tweetdecking Nicki Minaj stan account. Not that anyone we know has done that, but Lil Nas X did tweet today that âlife is too short to pretend youâre not a barb,â referencing Nicki Minajâs fans, the self-styled Barbies, and resurfacing questions about the stan account @nasmaraj, which used to share Minaj content and other jokes meant to go viral. But in case youâre unfamiliar with that account: It was suspended in March 2018 for tweetdecking, which is basically reposting from other not-so-popular accounts to chase a viral tweet. The Twitter accountâs corresponding profile, u/nasmaraj, used to promote Lil Nas X music on various subreddits. The Twitter account was thought to be replaced by another account, @nasmarai (changing one letter in a handle being an old suspended-tweetdecker trick), which has tweets that now show up under Lil Nas Xâs handle. As Brian Feldman reported for Intelligencer in 2019, the tweets from the two accounts share the same unique ID number at the end of the URL, meaning the user we now know as @LilNasX used to have the handle @nasmarai.
Yet Lil Nas Xâs official stance has always been that heâs not a Barb â never mind a once-prominent Twitter user, which could make âOld Town Roadâ seem less of an organic viral hit. âLil Nas Xâs team has reached out to us to confirm that Lil Nas X did not run a Nicki Minaj fanpage, despite Billboardâs initial reports,â Billboard wrote in March 2019 to correct a story about Lil Nas Xâs rise.
When a fan asked, âWtf is a barb,â Lil Nas replied, âItâs hard to explain. Itâs like a feeling and a state of being.â (Though not to be confused with Bachelor Peter Weberâs mother, of course.) And it definitely doesnât have to be someone behind a Twitter account. Although, we do know Nicki Minaj could use the stan power right about now, since she may have chosen this moment to wage war against BeyoncĂ© herself.