Big statements. Bold moves. Wild imagery.
This is the way for 24-year-old Georgia native Montero Lamar Hill, known by listeners as Lil Nas X.
This jaw-dropping, genre-bending business started back in 2018 with “Old Town Road”, featuring Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus. That song was relatively tame. But that ended quickly.
Then it hopped to Nas’ song “Montero,” featuring Nas himself giving Satan a lap dance, amongst other things. And then came the arguably pornographic video for the song “Industry Baby,” which, in my opinion, should have been banned from YouTube.
But it wasn’t, as Nas has more than 19 million subscribers on YouTube and over 11 million followers on Instagram.
And that leads us to where we are at this moment. Talking about his latest single, “J Christ.”
This track was released as the lead single from his upcoming second studio album. It’s all about how Nas has returned to the music scene (although he never left), ready to make music that people will both praise and remember.
Perhaps, he’ll even make music that will go viral. Sort of like the video for “J Christ,” which has received over 12 million views on YouTube in less than 10 days.
It’s loud, it’s profane, it’s a homosexual anthem of sorts and it features Nas as many a Bible character–including Jesus himself.
The only “positive” I can give Nas here is that there’s nothing wrong with wanting to make music that people will remember (“Now I’m on Mariah/I’m finna take it higher/…You know when I’m back, it’s all for take”).
To be fair, Nas has indeed made a song that people will remember, but not for any positive reasons.
The song itself is your typical display of braggadocio (“Is he ’bout to hit ’em with the high note?/Is he ’bout to give ’em somethin’ viral?/…Walk up in the club poppin’ s— like it’s doublemint”). Behavior that Nas relates to the supernatural actions of Jesus himself (“Back up out the gravesite/B–ch I’m back like J Christ”).
And that’s really the entire song, mixed with the profanity indicated above and Nas’ desire to lure in other men with his words (“I’m finna get the gays hyped”).
And the song can’t be separated from its accompanying video. At least, not once you’ve seen it.
It begins with a group of “saints” walking up to what is supposed to be Heaven, cursing along the way. Then, Nas struts in wearing a white leotard, covered with flowy material, boots, a gold chain that reads “sexy” and long, manicured nails as he sensually licks his lips.
We’re then taken down to hell where Nas wears a white loincloth and a red robe, standing by a cauldron filled with chopped-off arms and feet.
Next, we watch Nas play the Devil in a basketball game and win. But wait, it flashes to Nas as one of his own cheerleaders, wearing a short skirt and a crop top, along with other male cheerleaders sporting the same outfits and the same sexualized moves.
Then he’s Jesus on the cross–depicted as upside-down at first before it flips right side up. People dance around him as he hangs there.
You’ll see him dancing shirtless in the rain with other men, as Noah and even as a shirtless, loincloth-wearing man shearing a sheep…
…But that’s not where the video ends.
It ends with the flood diminishing, a statement reading “Day Zero: New Beginnings” and 2nd Corinthians 5:17 being plastered across the screen.
The idea is that, according to his post on the platform X, Nas asked his followers, “Ya’ll mind if I enter my Christian era?”
This is a fascinating question. One that he claims was not, and is not, mockery. Yet if you watch the video that’s obviously not true.
Still, there was another quote in the background that read, “Lord help me for I am at war.”
And to be honest, this was shocking to read. Because I can’t watch a video like this without thinking that this young man is at war within himself. Whether he recognizes it or not.
So while this song and its accompanying video are very Sodom and Gomorrah-esque, I think a proper response is to pray for Nas, and to remember that we all need help from the Lord for our own warring souls.
