Lil Nas X controversy over ‘MONTERO’

Lil+Nas+Xs+MONTERO+stirs+up+conflict+over+religious+reasons+despite+its+message+of+accepting+your+true+self.

Parth Mishra

Lil Nas X’s ‘MONTERO’ stirs up conflict over religious reasons despite it’s message of accepting your true self.

Parth Mishra, Staff Writer

A few weeks ago, Lil Nas X released his much anticipated single, ‘MONTERO’, where Nas talks about the difficulty of accepting your true self, and how religion and culture shouldn’t affect your sexuality. The single was received poorly by many Christian communities and reputable figures, and has sparked a controversy in the music industry.

The song is structured as a letter to Nas’ younger self, and he hopes to further normalize queerness through the spread of ‘MONTERO’.

“I know we promised to never be ‘that’ type of gay person, I know we promised to die with the secret, but this will open doors for many other queer people to simply exist,” said Nas to The Guardian.

The song has topped the charts, and with that kind of notability came the attention of multiple reputed artists.

Joyner Lucas, a rapper known for in-depth themes in his music, has criticised ‘MONTERO’, declaring that “Old Town Road is every kid’s anthem”, and that by dropping some “left-fielded ish”,  Nas is instilling a negative influence onto the new generation.

However, Nas replied with a mature remark about his song, saying that Old Town Road was a song about “lean and adultery”, and that Lucas let his child listen even after understanding the themes of the song. 

‘MONTERO’ has also gained widespread criticism from popular Christian figures. Many of their complaints revolve around the glorification of Satan, a blasphemy that Christians do not tolerate.

“Right-wing pastor Greg Locke is not a fan of Lil Nas X, calls it a ‘bunch of devil-worshipping, wicked nonsense..” says a tweet by Right Wing Watch about the pastor who criticised ‘MONTERO’ in a sermon.

Lil Nas X also recently released shoes that were inspired by ‘MONTERO’’s theme. They have a resemblance to Nike AirMaxes, and are rumored to contain a drop of human blood.

The shoes sold out very quickly, but Nike filed a restraining order against the company that produced the shoes, MSCHF. The restraining order slowed the retail of the shoes for a while.

“I haven’t been upset until today. I feel like it’s messed up they have so much power they can get shoes cancelled. Freedom of expression went out the window. But that’s gonna change soon,” tweeted Lil Nas X as a possible rebuttal.

Lil Nas X poured his heart and his ideals out in a song about morals that should be instilled in every human being, but criticism came in droves for the execution of ‘MONTERO’, that could be called very poor by some. 

However, it’s a wonder how Lil Uzi Vert, a massively popular rapper who regularly presented himself as a Satanist and has a large fanbase of immature kids was let off the hook with a slight chiding, but Lil Nas X, who used the concept to bring awareness to an important topic, was criticised to a much larger degree.