Amanda Ross

Staff Writer 

amr8469@psu.edu

Lil Nas X released his new single, J-CHRIST, on Jan. 12, 2024. Near immediately, the song became embroiled in controversy as people claimed that the music video’s intense religious imagery was meant to mock Christianity and specifically Jesus Christ. This continues the pattern of religious symbolism and commentary within Nas’ works.

Lil Nas X is a Georgia based singer and songwriter who first rose to prominence after the release of his single ‘Old Town Road’. The song marked a pattern of both success and controversy for Nas, as it charted at number one for 19 weeks before being pulled off the country charts. Many believed this action was motivated by racism, as the song was not pulled from the R&B charts. Despite this, Nas would sign with Columbia Records in March of 2019. Nas would also come out as gay that same year. In late 2020, Nas began dropping singles for his upcoming album, ‘Montero’. The most prominent of these was ‘Montero (Call me by Your Name)’ and its accompanying music video. 

In ‘Montero (Call Me By Your Name)’, Nas is depicted as being seduced by a snake in the land of Montero. He is then put on trial, eventually ascending above the trial, before grabbing a pole and dancing down to Hell. Going to a castle of brimstone, Nas meets a demonic figure that he gives a lap dance while repeating the song’s hook. While some applauded the video as a form of expressive queer art, others derided it as being satanic and promoting devil worship. The controversy however propelled the song to instant viral status, earning 2 billion streams on Spotify within the year. Nas would later release the single ‘Industry Baby’ as well, though it would not reach the same heights as Montero. 

Nas has begun promotion for his second album, culminating in the release of ‘J-CHRIST’ and its subsequent music video. The video contains a myriad of references to biblical figures, with Nas styling himself as Noah, Moses, and Jesus Christ himself. It also features a shot of Nas dunking a basketball into the head of the devil. This was preceded by a month of promotion on TikTok, where Nas claimed that he had converted to Christianity. It is still not clear if this was real. 

While ‘Montero’ invoked strong responses, ‘J-CHRIST’ sparked a deep and intense reaction. Christians claimed that Nas deliberately used Jesus’ likeness to not only falsely lead them to believe he had genuinely converted, but to promote his music. Others fired back that both ‘Montero’ and ‘J-CHRIST’ were an honest expression of Nas’ spirituality and sexuality. Nas would later explain himself in a TikTok video, saying “It was not a f**k you to the Christians, it wasn’t that…” and that he did not expect the reaction the video garnered. Nas has had his own complex journey with religion. He was raised by a pastor, and originally recognized his homosexuality as a test from God. It is possible that this journey is represented in both videos.

As of now, the video has 15 million views after being released three weeks ago.