Montero Lamar Hill, also known as Lil Nas X, is a fairly new singer to the industry. He came out with his first big hit in late 2018 named “Old Town Road.” After this song came out he blew up in the industry, and his song was streamed 2.5 billion times. Hill just released a new single on March 26 called “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” which has 20,000 downloads and more than 24 million streams as well as making number one on the rolling stone top 100 songs chart.

The reason he made this song was that years prior Hill watched the film Call Me By Your Name the first gay film he has ever seen. He says “Calling somebody by your own name is love, keeping the love between you two.” There are also multiple lyrics inside of the song that represents the specific men he fell in love with. Hill wanted to “tell a story” about his date with a song. 

Hill also purposely referenced a lot of LGBTQ+ symbols because he wanted to be the voice for many people that cannot speak for themselves to let them feel comfortable in their own skin. Besides his purpose of helping the LGBTQ+ community, there were some hidden religious conditions as well. The video is certainly provocative and depicts being licked by a mythical snake in the Garden of Eden and later going down a stripper pole into what appears as hell. This represents the battle between religion and being a part of LGBTQ+ community. The last hidden symbolism is Plato’s Symposium which was on the tree in the video. After being decoded, the words read “After the division the two parts of man, each desiring his other half.”

Amongst the public, Hill has taken it upon himself to create a “Satan Shoe.” The shoe was based upon the Air Max 97, a previous popular shoe produced by Nike. Only 666 pairs were made because that’s known as the Devil’s number, and they sold for $1,018 per set. Also printed on the side of the shoes is the bible verse Luke 10:18 which is “He replied, I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.” The shoes also come with the pentagram charm on the laces. It was said that the shoes were made with a drop of human blood and in order to destroy the shoe, you had to go through a ritual process. 

Nike ended up suing MSCHF x Lil Nas for the controversy caused by selling the shoe and is allowing anyone who had the shoe to return them for their money back. Hill remains unbothered by the situation and continues to promote the song and shoes.