THE DEVIL IS IN THE MAKING
The one thing that makes me want to stay around for a
few more decades is to witness the development in change. Change is one of the
most important things that can happen to any society. It is my opinion that the
biggest change in the modern world will come in the form of music. I’ve lived
to see Elvis, and the Beatles; even Hendrix and Michael; but I’ve never seen anything
in the social arena that compares with the change that the 20 year old Lil Nas
X has brought to music.
When a black, gay, rapper, appeared on the stage of
the Grand Ole Opry, I knew that a great change was in the making. I even wrote
about it in my book “LOCKER ROOM TALK. However, I did not know just how great the
change was going to be. His song “THE
Not only is there blood in the "Satan Shoes" that Lil Nas X is
promoting, but his new music video is going to make Elvis and the Beatles look
like the common cold. Maybe it was Covid-19 that stopped the world long enough
for Lil Nas X to make a DEVIL of a video, and that’s exactly what he did. And along with it a pair of "Satan Shoes" that
is setting the world on its ears.
The video, “CALL ME BY YOUR NAME” is going to raise
the roof-tops on the “Sunday Morning Go-To Meetin’ Places,” like nothing that
has happened in many decades. Religious folks do not have “a dog in his fight,”
particularly since they have made such asses of themselves in the worship of
Donald Trump. If this is not a form of devil worship, I don’t know what it?
After all, it is religion that has demonized homosexuality to be the worse of
all sins.
In my struggles as a gay teenager, I witnessed far
more sermons about homosexuality than any other subject. Lil Nas X, at the age
of twenty, has already “come out.” He says since he has been told all his life
that he is going to hell for being gay therefore; he might as well make a video
about it.
This video has already been called by some as a
“Culture Shock.” As the old folks would say, “this guy has already up and done
it.” In this video the entertainer is seen sliding down a long stripper pole
into the pits of hell. When he gets there he gives the devil a lap-dance. Lil
Nas X is a smart, handsome, young African American man, and he is already a
SUPER STAR to many American teenagers and especially to young LGBTQ
individuals. He has done more to help the gay communities than any one person
in the last five decades, and he is just getting started.
It is like I said back in the sixties when I was a
beginning teacher; the more adults raise a ruckus about teenage fads the more
they like it and the more popular the fad becomes. Such as long hair and
sideburns for teenage boys, or the “Afro” for African American students, every
group of teenagers want to be different and I for one like changes in hair
styles, clothing attire, and music. I am glad that “across the waters” I found
a different culture that fits me to a tee.
Rest assured the more hell that is raised about Lil
Nas X’s video the richer he will become. He will be smiling all the way to the
bank concerning all the free advertisements the religious community will give to him.
But something tells me that there is far more value to this video than monetary benefits.