Lil Nas X and Afrofuturism
Lil Nas X is not only an extremely talented Black and queer musician, he is an excellent storyteller within his music videos. He has quite a distinctive style, one that utilizes modern video technology to portray afrofuturist themes. Ever since his breakout single “Old Town Road”, he’s been pushing the idea of Black queer representation in traditionally white spaces, from country music, to cyberpunk cities, to biblical imagery. In placing himself in these settings in his extravagant music videos, Lil Nas X furthers the genre of Afrofuturism with themes ranging from black representation in the future to the reclamation of a whitewashed past.
In “Panini”, Lil Nas’s first single after “Old Town Road”, he sings about his newfound fame to all the people “tryna keep [him] teeny”. The video portrays a hyper-futuristic, cyberpunk city plastered with hologram ads, all portraying the artist’s face. It is a kind of cat-and-mouse romance (a heterosexual one - Lil Nas X didn’t publicly come out as gay until about ten days later) in which both characters are Black and clearly wealthy. To place two black characters (especially with a darker complexion) in this futuristic space at all is Afrofuturist, but by making them wealthy and plastering his own face all over the city, he is imagining a better future for Black folks and, in a way, doing his part to pave the way for that future.
Lil Nas X’s newest album, “Montero” is entirely an afrofuturist piece, but for now I’ll focus on the title track, “Montero (CMBYN)”. This song and video is an ode to his own journey as a young queer Black man growing up in a religious world that did not want to accept him. He uses modern animation technologies to create a fantastical world that uses both biblical and historical elements to express the messages he wants to get across that aren’t explicitly in his lyrics. This work is afrofuturist because Lil Nas is creating an alternate history - one where Adam was black and queer, and the ancient greco-roman rulers were the same (in an almost hunger games-esque style). By flipping these recognizable motifs on their heads by digitally inserting his own face on every character, Lil Nas draws a connection between ancient and modern-day persecution and symbolizes how he was trapped by his own beliefs for so long, but is finally able to break free.
Lil Nas X’s music and videos are extremely fun to listen to and watch, but they are also revolutionary. They place a Black, queer man in the forefront, emphasizing the power he has over the industry while also paying tribute to the vast history of Afrofuturism in music. Personally, I can’t wait to see what he does next
