Revolutionary gay recording artist Lil Nas X has done it again. The musician pushes fresh, new boundaries with his provocative new video depicting him having a ball – no pun intended – while locked up in Montero State Prison.
In the video for "Industry Baby," Lil' Nas X is sentenced to five years in the big house. But the music sensation can turn even the slammer into a banger, and he and the fellow hotties he's locked up with drop their pink prison jumpsuits and perform a naked naughty dance in a shower room complete with pink-tiled poles. You know you love it.
Lil Nas X, 22, celebrated the release of his video by writing a letter to "14-year-old Montero," using his given name, Montero Lamar Hill, on Twitter.
"I wrote a song for us," the letter begins. "I know sometimes you feel like it's all downhill from here. I know your sexuality has made you feel like an outcast among your peers. I know going from having the biggest song in the world to being trapped in your apartment is weighing heavy on you. And I know if you hear the phrase 'one hit wonder' one more time you might combust. But I need you to keep going. I need you to realize that you have the opportunity to be the person that you needed growing up. I need you to stop feeling sorry for yourself. And I need you to remember that the only person who has to believe in you is you."
There's more to Lil Nas X's video that meets the eye — and you best believe your eye meets plenty of him in the video. The YouTube video is actually part of a fundraising campaign for The Bail Project, a national non-profit organization that pays bail for people in need. The Commonwealth Fund estimates almost half a million people — three-quarters of the total number of people in jails — have not been convicted of a crime. Of these, 90 percent, the poorest Americans with the fewest resources — remain incarcerated because they cannot afford bail.
In an additional post, Lil Nas X spoke about the issue.
"Music is the way I fight for liberation," he wrote. "But true freedom requires change in how the criminal justice system works, starting with cash bail. I know the pain that incarceration brings to a family, and I know the disproportionate impact that cash bail has on Black Americans. There are so many stories that call on us to take action, and I invite you to join me in this important civil rights issue."
Get into Lil Nas X and Jack Harlow's hot music video for "Industry Baby" below.