the young superstar rapper lil nas x is no stranger to commanding the
spotlight his controversial new music video
and the marketing campaign for it are drawing the ire of conservatives and right-wing media
the reactions reveal cultural undercurrents in the struggle of black queer artists to make
their voices heard yamiche alcindor has more as part of our ongoing arts and culture series
canvas
in 2019 he swaggered onto the scene with the country rap song old town road
practically overnight montero lamar hill a teenager who spent a lot of time on the internet
at home in the atlanta suburbs became superstar little na's ex old town road caught fire on the
video app tick tock and it became a smash hit it broke the billboard record for longest running
number one song of all time that year at 20 years old he was the most grammy-nominated male artist
thank you while still on top of the charts he came out as gay he told cbs's gail king
that he wrestled with his sexuality growing up i knew um especially like around my teenage like
years you know i would just like you know pray and pray and pray and what were you praying for
that it was like a phase that it would go away yeah i called it bad just today last week little
nas ex released a music video that he says speaks to that teenage boy struggling to accept his true
self it's called montero it's a campy fantastical journey that takes him from the garden of eden
to the underworld where he dances for the devil before stealing his horns for himself
it's a tongue-in-cheek riff on the biblical themes that have long been used to demonize queerness
and justify homophobia little nas x says it's an embrace of his identity but an online backlash
is in full force it intensified after he released a limited edition model of sneakers called satan
shoes they allegedly contain a drop of human blood alongside the song nike sued the company that made
the modified version of the sneakers for trademark infringement and blocked them from being sold
you've got to be kidding me i'm not kidding right-wing media stoked the uproar
what's most outrageous is the timing of this it was intentionally dropped on the eve of holy week
politicians like south dakota governor christie gnome rapper joyner lucas and conservative pundit
candice owens have all taken to twitter to criticize the rapper but little nas x is known
for his comebacks in his native arena twitter he has been quick to defend himself against critics
and he's not waiting on anyone's blessing to express himself through his art
to discuss all of this i'm joined by clay kane he's the host of the clay kane show
on siriusxm and he is the author of live through this surviving the intersections of sexuality god
and race clay thanks so much for being here what did you see represented here in this video this
montero video and how does it speak particularly to black and queer folks to see someone as young
as little nasdaq's really dealing with faith uh dealing with his own identity it was really
powerful you know i i think what took me is a tweet that he put out there saying all these years
he's been taught to hate himself and so this music video to me was it was him reacting to what i call
spiritual and theological violence and how that really harms uh lgbt folks especially black lgbt
folks in the church you know when i was younger if i would have saw an image like this in many
ways it would have freed me from the hate that i was taught to believe uh so it was very powerful
and i think for a lot of black lgbt folks you know i'm not saying little nasdaq's is uh audrey lord
or james baldwin but young people are listening to him and that power of him really dismantling a
cycle of shame i think it really resonates and for folks who listen to him it certainly has
an impact you just touched on the cycle of shame that some people fear especially black people and
queer folks um can you talk a little bit about how little naz's ex's art and his his success
rather um how they connect to the to people who may have felt that cycle of shame yeah well listen
you know in many churches uh you were taught that who you are naturally it's an abomination
then you have this rhetoric well you know i hate that hate the sin but love the sinner uh you know
uh you know you're an abomination but you're still going to hell uh who you are is wrong but
i still love you and the truth is you don't love me the truth is rhetoric like that dogma like that
uh is not affirming and it really damages people for life i have friends who've committed suicide
i have friends to this day they are living their life but they still have this gnawing sense in
the back of their mind that who they are is inherently wrong so little na's x doing that
uh i think that it helps to say hey you're saying i'm gonna burn in hell and now metaphorically
here i am going to hell and people still have an issue with it people are still challenged by it so
he's doing what any artist does where you put your work and your pain and your sorrow in your art
but i think for some people it's a little heavier that a black gay artist is doing it you know when
madonna did it many years ago it was controversial uh but it certainly isn't the kind of backlash you
see now with the black gay artist doing it who is proud who is remaining unapologetic
and who is not guilted in to these constructs of religion that i it really hurts people's souls and
it prevents them from loving and in addition to that some of that hate turns into policy
you touched on this this isn't the first time that artists have used controversial imagery
you talked about madonna what makes do you think this different and new what little nazix is doing
because he's a black gay artist because he's a black artist right i mean of course you know
i think it's kind of funny folks to outrage at the religious imagery ac dc did it dmx
did it again madonna did it prince did it but it's because it's a black gay artist
and and it terrifies people because the truth is that and folks may get angry about this but
religion uh really isn't about god oftentimes it's about control and so little nausea is
taking a narrative this allegedly you know uh narrative that is rooted in christianity
and he's blowing it up little nazex is insisting upon being free and that scares people
i want to ask you of course about the the the blowback because you said of course the little
nazix is insisting on being free but there are people that are reacting negatively to the
satan's shoes as well as to the video what do you think might be lost in all this controversy what's
well when it comes to the sneakers in the video it's just so funny a pair of sneakers
in a video is not going to dismantle centuries of religion you're there is no threat to your faith
there is no threat to your religion there is a threat to lgbt folks being able to live and exist
and if little nazex and so many other people weren't damaged and hurt by again spiritual
and theological violence which i always say can be just as damaging as physical and emotional abuse
then you wouldn't have a video like this so again i see him as acting out against the way that he
has been hurt and that to me is powerful that to me uh again you know whether or not you like the
song that's one thing but that imagery has people talking and we have to really examine the ways
in which we pin our life and death to what i call culturally scripted sin sin is culturally scripted
and it varies in every culture it varies in every experience so i feel like if i see somebody being
rooted at who they are he's not lying to himself he's being who he is feel free to turn it off
certainly a lot to speak about thank you so much for joining us clay kane thank you you