Honestly, I never knew about Lil Nas X until my prom when they played the song. It was pretty dope and easy to listen to. When he came out gay I was like “wha” but I didn’t necessarily care but some of the memes about him coming out was funny as hell I still have a video saved about how the song doesn’t even sound the same now that he out the closet. I didn’t bump 7 until late 2019 before the school year started. Regardless of him being gay I still like the music he puts out and the nice creative imagery in his music videos it’s really authentic for a 22-year-old artist. When he dropped Montero (Call me by your name) I noticed how much of a game-changer it is, it’s kinda like the gay version of wap, it just garnered so many reactions some good some completely negative and it makes sense considering he was grinding on Satan in the video. I love how he refused to give into peer pressure and stood by what he said and what he’s done. The thing I’m still not 100% about was the Satan Shoes he dropped complete with a pentagon I was actually glad Nike shut that down cause I didn’t want to see people wearing those. Might have to burn that. His performances with Call Me by your name have always been top tier it came to a point where I think he had like one of the best and iconic performances in the BET awards (alongside Meg thee Stallion and Tyler, the Creator; with DaBaby lagging behind) and he sealed it with a kiss too pretty much shocking and amazing everyone. My thing is this, people see Lil Nas X as a demon or satan worshipper that’s trying to bring hell on earth and poison the minds of the children but I see it differently alongside Corey. I actually see another black man brave enough to be himself and not live in fear. I see a queer black man fighting for other queer men, Lil Nas X is pretty much the first gay man to be extremely exclusive with his music like he’s completely breaking down social barriers for other gay artists especially rappers I mean he came to the BET Awards wearing a dress. The dude is actually a hero tbh and completely stands behind his work unapologetically. He and Tyler are like the Kings of Shock Culture like he enjoys trolling and making people uncomfortable.
Unfortunately, homophobia is rampant especially within the Black community partly cause of religion and early colonization. I’m spiritual but not religious for the most part but I don’t discriminate (anymore). Hip-Hop Music was also extremely homophobic in the past it came to a point where you could hear rappers threatening to kill gay people in the past and stand by their statements. Since 2020 we started to get better but the vibe is still visible. It comes to a point where people try to find ridiculous reasons to hate on Lil Nas X. The backhanded reason for homophobia is mostly because statistically people are either closeted or had no association with homosexuals aside from the negative aspects of them, similar to how racism is mostly because of the times of slavery when black people were treated with disdain simply for their color. For one example, me, because my parents didn’t want me to associate with homosexuals I had no idea they even existed I only heard that it’s completely unheard of and thus developed a distaste for homosexuals and perceived interactions until my senior year at high school when I began to develop genuine feelings for another man (or 2 men actually). And I thought to myself I should probably start exploring and coming out of my shell a little more. Along the way I discovered a few people I knew before including one of my best friends were gay or bi which goes to show how a lot of homophobes do not know who could be gay or not. One of my closest friends, Corey, had grown up around bis, pans, and gays whereas I did not so he is admittedly comfortable around them and does not mind them (as long as they don’t fuck in his house) and a lot of people was comfortable with me being bi the only people with more of a problem with it was old heads and my family.
So to be completely honest, while people (mostly conservatives) see him as a menace, I see him as another black man trying to initiate change in society just as many civil rights activists have done in the beginning, he had grown up mentally oppressed and opted to keep dealing with the mockery and disdain from other homophobes the rest of his life until he finally decided to come out the closet and inspire other youth like him with his music and change societal norms for other queer artist or gays like him. How is this any different than what black activists had done in the past, they desired change in society and wanted to be seen as equals, not demons, not abnorms, just be seen as themselves. I don’t think Martin Luther King Jr himself had intended for the black community to discriminate against others because they are different from them. Individuality has always been key for everyone but alas people have such a forceful hand to get people to see things their way. For that, I applaud Lil Nas X for being able to come into the music game and initiate change within the industry in spite of being faced with so many trolls and so many assholes.
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