In the world of popular music, artists have been courting controversy for decades. Elvis shook people up in the fifties with his hip-shaking dance moves. They were considered so shocking, he was filmed from the waist up when appearing on live television. During the dawn of MTV, people used the music video format to push boundaries. In 1990, Madonna's "Justify My Love" video was banned for it's sexually explicit content.

It might seem like artists have run out of ways to shock audiences in 2021. While Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion's "WAP" shocked parents, it's not something we haven't seen or heard before. Enter Lil Nas X. On March 26, the artist dropped the much teased and highly anticipated video for his song "Montero (Call Me By Your Name)." The album, titled "Montero," will be out this summer.

The song gets its name from Lil Nas X himself. Montero is his real name. The song's title is also an homage to the film "Call Me By Your Name." Musically and melodically, the song is very catchy and gets stuck in your head right away. It has an infectious chorus with a great hook. Lyrically, it contains upfront sexually explicit lyrics about gay male lust. It's refreshing to hear this coming from a gay male with such a wide mainstream reach.

Let's not forget, Lil Nas X broke the record for the longest-running song atop the Billboard Hot 100 chart with "Old Town Road." His sexual openness at such a large level will surely offer representation for the gay male community. It will also no doubt shake up the hyper masculinity and homophobia that still resides in hip-hop.

The video features a gay take on the Adam and Eve story from the Bible. After being killed for his sins, Lil Nas X descends into Hell where he encounters the Devil. After giving Satan a lap dance, Lil Nas X kills him, puts his horns on, and becomes the new ruler of Hell.

Naturally, the video got an extreme reaction. You had the usual suspects: Kaitlin Bennett, Candace Owens, the governor of South Dakota. You also had parents who did the usual song and dance about how it's corrupting their kids. Newsflash: you are in control of what your child is exposed to. It's not the responsibility of Lil Nas X. He's an artist. He's a grown man. He can express himself how he feels to.

There are also extreme religious folks who are claiming the video is promoting Satan worship.

The fact that people are actually suggesting the video is trying to promote Satanism is truly hilarious. As a gay man, I was able to pick up on the video's message right away. It's clearly a tongue-in-cheek comment to homophobic religious people who say LGBTQ people go to Hell. Either these people lack a sense of humor or they actually believe LGBTQ people go to Hell.

Or maybe both.

Lil Nas X has said that growing up in the church, this kind of message was around him all the time. When the song dropped, he even posted a note that he wrote to his 14-year-old self. The note revealed that as a teen, Lil Nas X was prepared to be closeted for the rest of his life. He claimed that he vowed never to be "that" kind of gay person. He opened up about the deep insecurity he carried around with him during that time.

This video doesn't appear to be shocking for the sake of shocking. It's clearly coming from a very real place and this is his way of expressing it through his art. The day after the song and video was released, Lil Nas X posted this to Twitter:

"i spent my entire teenage years hating myself because of the shit y'all preached would happen to me because i was gay. so i hope u are mad, stay mad, feel the same anger you teach us to have towards ourselves."

While the video's imagery certainly comes from a deep place, Lil Nas X seems to be having fun with the controversy. He partnered with streetwear company MSCHF to create a limited line of shoes. Dubbed the "Satan shoes," they contain a pentagram, a reference to Luke 10:18, and allegedly a drop of human blood. The shoes are so limited, there are only 666 pairs. And to top it all off, this was announced the weekend of Palm Sunday.

The humor is so obvious in all of this, it's getting embarrassing when people continue to get upset over it. The design was inspired by the Nike Air Max 97s. There have been calls from conservatives to boycott Nike. Nike has released a statement denying any involvement and sued MSCHF over the release. All 666 pairs of shoes sold out the day of release.

Based on his reactions on Twitter, Lil Nas X doesn't seem to be losing any sleep over the controversy. He seems to be loving every second of it, and he should be. The man is a marketing genius. The video, the shoes, the controversy. It's all helping the song to become a huge hit and build anticipation for the album.

It is very reminiscent of Madonna's "Like a Prayer" video and Pepsi commercial. In 1989, Madonna partnered with Pepsi to promote her single "Like a Prayer." Pepsi was also going to sponsor her tour. The commercial featured the song and premiered the day before the music video. When the video premiered the next day, audiences were shocked by its imagery.

In the clip, Madonna was seen kissing a Black saint, dancing in front of burning crosses, and bleeding stigmata. Religious groups were angry at Madonna and put pressure on Pepsi to end their relationship with her. Pepsi ended up taking the commercial off the air. The Vatican even condemned Madonna and the video.

But it was Madonna who won in the end. She got to keep the $5 million she was paid for doing the Pepsi commercial. She also saw her "Like a Prayer" single and album become huge worldwide hits. The song reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and the album went to number one on the Billboard 200 album chart.

As of writing this article, the "Montero" video is nearing 40 million views on YouTube. The song and video have both reached number one on US iTunes. It certainly looks like all this controversy will pay off for Lil Nas X. Here's hoping he continues to stay true to himself and his art. He is filling a void of representation for gay men in the mainstream.

Gay men don't always have to be super nice and on their best behavior at all times. We don't always have to be family friendly. It should be okay for us to be edgy and provocative. It shouldn't give the entire community a bad name. And we shouldn't cater to homophobes who might have that mentality. If straight artists can express themselves like this at a mainstream level, we should also be able to.

The world we live in today needs an artist like him. He's helping to break down homophobic barriers in hip-hop and religious communities. To be a gay Black man and have the kind of reach and power he has makes a very powerful statement. It's a wonderful thing to witness and hopefully it continues to go well for him.

People will get mad, but it just means that Lil Nas X will continue gaining success. If that's the case, let's hope they stay mad.