"[I]n high school, [Lil Nas X] spent his days chasing internet fame, experimenting across different corners of social media."

"Then, almost by accident, he recorded a song during a $20 studio session using a $30 beat. That track, 'Old Town Road,' went on to break records. The country-rap gumbo topped the Billboard Hot 100 for 19 weeks and remains the longest-running No. 1 hit of all time."

From "Lil Nas X charged with four felonies after reportedly attacking officer/The 'Old Town Road' rapper faces three counts of battery against a police officer and a count of resisting an executive officer" (WaPo).

"Los Angeles police responded to reports of a man wandering the street in his underwear on Ventura Boulevard. [Lil Nas X] was arrested after he was found naked on the street.... Unsure if Hill was experiencing an overdose or a mental health crisis, police reported that the rapper charged at officers before punching one of them in the face twice...."

In happier times:

"In the week since Lil Nas X released the provocative, pointedly homoerotic 'Industry Baby' music video and North Carolina rapper DaBaby regaled a Miami Rolling Loud audience with a vile quip about gay sex..."

"... and AIDS between songs, conversations about homosexuality and homophobia in hip-hop that have been percolating all year have come to a head..... It’s been illuminating watching masks come off and hearing what people think these two stories say about the state of hip-hop.... The message in the many twists this dialogue has taken is that a lot of people who claim credit for being open-minded also maintain that they deserve the right to object to some of the avenues of expression favored by the queer people they purport to have no problem with. It’s acceptance with a caveat: You can be gay, bi, trans, pan, nonbinary, what have you, so long as you don’t make too much noise about it. If you coddle hip-hop’s cisgendered, heteronormative core, you can cook. If you show too much queer attraction and self-expression, people get uncomfortable. The illusion of respect for our differences erodes. Acceptance is conditional upon giving the masses something to relate to.... More and more of us are taking up the language of the privileged but aggrieved, of people who see the slightest request for consideration as an attack on their personal freedoms.... A lot of people want things to stay the way they used to be and seem unable to grasp that the way things were required marginalized people to suck it up and live as second-class citizens in a country clearly built for someone else...."

From "I Don’t See an End to This" by Craig Jenkins (NY Magazine).

Here's the video — "Industrial Baby" — celebrating prison sex. I could only watch about a quarter of it because I turn off any recording immediately if I hear the "n-word." 

The "vile quip" was: "If you didn’t show up today with HIV, AIDS, or any of them deadly sexually transmitted diseases, that’ll make you die in two to three weeks, then put your cell-phone lighter up.... Fellas, if you ain’t sucking dick in the parking lot, put your cell-phone lighter up."

FROM THE EMAIL: J writes: "For some reason, very young children love Lil Nas. I find it disturbing." J links to the video below, and I don't see how you can wonder what the reason is. The kids are loving the very cute and catchy song "Old Town Road," which isn't about prison sex. It's just about riding a horse:

UPDATE: "DaBaby Pulled From Lollapalooza Lineup After Homophobic Comments" (NY Magazines):

“Lollapalooza was founded on diversity, inclusivity, respect, and love. With that in mind, DaBaby will no longer be performing at Grant Park tonight.”

He did make a mild effort at apology — basically the ultimate in nonapology — "My apologies for being me."

"I feel like it’s fucked up they have so much power they can get shoes cancelled. Freedom of expression gone out the window."

Said Lil Nas X, quoted in "Lil Nas X Satan Shoes will be recalled as part of settlement with Nike/Nike sued MSCHF Product Studio for trademark infringement over the black-and-red, devil-themed sneakers" (The Guardian). 

Can't you make shoes out of shoes — decorate them, bedazzle them — and then sell them? We won't get an official legal answer, because Lil Nas settled the case. Nike retains the threat of litigation over anyone who tries to use their shoes as a foundation for a fashion/art project. 

Lil Nas loses nothing other than the opportunity to fund litigation to establish the principle he speaks as though he cares about. But the shoes that were made — all 666 pairs of them — were sold in the first minute, and anyone who bought the shoes can now get a refund of the purchase price — $1018 — but no one will do that, because they're notorious, and they are clearly more valuable now that they've become so famous.  I see on eBay that a pair recently sold for $5,000, so only an ignoramus would participate in the recall.

Did anyone ever really believe that devil-themed sneakers were outrageous? Kids wear devil costumes at Halloween. The devil is not a big enough villain to make anything edgy in 2021... or in 1951. 

But Big Sneaker put its foot down, and ooh!, it's almost illicit to possess these things.

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There is no comments section anymore, but you can email me here. Unless you say otherwise, I will presume you'd enjoy an update to this post with a quote from your email.

"Being a black man in America means navigating the racism of the majority, but it also has to mean understanding how our position within our culture affords us power to stand over others in that culture."

Writes Stereo Williams in The Daily Beast.

Two of entertainment’s most successful and controversial comedians have faced recent criticism for their inability or unwillingness to recognize the latter. Dave Chappelle and Kevin Hart have both been at the center of PR nightmares as the result of remarks they’ve made about the LGBTQ community and LGBTQ issues. Those controversies were back under the spotlight recently. In August, Chappelle’s latest Netflix special, Sticks & Stones, reignited what feels like an ongoing back-and-forth between the comic and the audience he seems to revel in provoking. And Hart, during this week’s appearance on LeBron James’ HBO series The Shop, sparked an uncomfortable exchange when rapper Lil Nas X explained why he’d decided to come out just as he was breaking big with the No. 1 hit “Old Town Road.”

Here's the clip from "The Shop":



Hart was just in a serious car accident, so the response to this clip has been muted. But Hart said "Hate what? Why? Why are you growing up to hate?" when Lil Nas X brought up homophobia in the black community. Lil Nas X answers Hart: "Come on now, if you’re really from the hood, you know."