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Black music genres like rap and blues have always played with the satanic: Robert Johnson’s 1911 “ Me and the Devil Blues,” Big L’s 1993 song “Devil’s Son,” and Tyler the Creator’s 666 crew rap collective are just a few of many examples. Historically, Black musicians and rappers have responded to this tool of domination and stigmatization of Black practices and bodies. As such, Lil Nas X brings together intersections that were stifled by Christianity that go beyond the queer the imposition of Christianity on enslaved Black people in America and other colonized countries was a violent tool of domination that erased African cultures that had flexible views on sexuality. The violence of colonization and slavery is inextricable from Christianity, which carries the cultural imposition of white supremacy and heterosexuality, stigmatizing African religious practices as satanic. From George Michael’s “Faith” and Madonna’s “Like a Prayer” to Depeche Mode’s “Blasphemous Rumours” and Lady Gaga’s “Judas,” Lil Nas X is continuing a tradition of queer blasphemy, both embracing his deviant queerness and giving queers around the world something unflinchingly queer to worship.īut Lil Nas X adds to the queer blasphemy tradition by inhabitating the intersections of being Black, queer, and male. He’s challenging the ways his sexuality has been cast as deviant by Christianity through an embrace of the demonic. “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” is only the latest expression of this. There’s been a long relationship between queerness, religious blasphemy, and pop culture: Queer musicians have been drawn to queering religious imagery in response to the violent homophobia being taught by religious institutions.
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In “Montero (Call Me By Your Name),” a song named after the rapper’s own name and whose parenthetical is in reference to the 2017 movie Call Me By Your Name, a romance about two men, Lil Nas X uses temptation and damnation-religious imagery that has been used to instill fear, shame and self-hatred in queer people-to reclaim his sexuality. Though we can ask whether Lil Nas X is “allowed” to play with Christianity, there are more pressing questions: What is the impact of being taught that queer love and companionship will land you in hell? What happens when the very way you romantically relate to other people is pathologized as demonic and you’re actively encouraged to hate that part of yourself? “Montero” is a response to how growing up queer in a Christian society breeds self-hatred, sexual repression, and internalized homophobia his performance of queer blasphemy proclaims that he prefers to be the devil if it means he gets to love and fuck whomever he wants.ĭoes Lil Nas X play with Christianity in his music video? Sure, but it’s nothing new.
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So with no disclaimer he just dropped some left field ish and all our kids seen it.” Across the internet, horrified Christians and homophobes commented that the rapper had “sold his soul” and owed them an apology for warping religious concepts. They tuned in and subscribed to his channels. Other critics of the video said they were concerned about Lil Nas X’s influence on children: “I think the biggest problem for me is the fact he don’t understand ‘Old Town Road’ is every kid’s anthem,” tweeted rapper Joyner Lucas. We have to win,” Kristi Noem, governor of South Dakota, tweeted in response to the video. “We are in a fight for the soul of our nation. Now, in his latest video, Lil Nas X unequivocally embraces his queerness through the tradition of queer blasphemy to the absolute despair of conservative Christian people across America-and to the triumph of queers everywhere who have been historically rejected by organized religion.
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Lil Nas X, who is well known for his mastery of social media and trolling, wrote on Twitter of his queerness, “deadass thought I made it obvious.”
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The singer-songwriter who rose to fame in early 2019 with the hit “ Old Town Road”-a song that was controversially removed from Billboard’s Hot Country Song list for not being country enough- came out publicly in summer 2019. Conservative and Christian commentators responded with outrage to the video’s visuals, which are overtly queer and subversively play with religious imagery, including the concepts of heaven, hell, and the devil. On March 26, Lil Nas X’s music video for “ Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” caused waves online. Lil Nas X in the “ Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” video (Photo credit: Screenshot from YouTube/Lil Nas X)