Lil Nas X’s new music video is already iconic (and controversial) – here’s what people are saying

After releasing “Montero” (Call Me By Your Name) back in March, Lil Nas X’s fame went stratospheric.

On Friday, Lil Nas released his new single “Industry Baby” featuring Jack Harlow alongside a music video which seemingly pokes fun at his legal drama with Nike regarding the Satan Shoes in collaboration with the brand MSCHF.

The star’s new video starts in the courtroom, then transitions to a prison. You can see Lil Nas hanging out and twerking with inmates wearing pink uniforms and lifting weights in the courtyard.

But the most shocking scene shows him and other inmates dancing completely nude in the communal prison showers.

The music video concludes with Lil Nas orchestrating a prison break ( after receiving a book that had what appeared to be a hammer embedded into it). The hole he created in the wall was covered up with a poster of his recent BET performance.

People in the comments were impressed with his confidence, although there were many mixed reviews about the video.

"I just love your confidence," someone wrote.

"Do you have the uncensored version?" another jokingly added.

Someone else assumed that Lil Nas does this for shock value and that it's not about the music anymore and wrote: "Lol. This guy relies on shock value to sell himself. Literally. Every time I hear of this guy, it's never a conversation about his music... always shenanigans-based."

Check out some other reactions below.

Marking the release of “Industry Baby,” Lil Nas also partnered up with The Ball Project, an initiative that aims to end cash bail in the United States justice system.

“Music is the way I fight for liberation. But true freedom requires [a] 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,” Lil Nas X wrote on the organisation’s website.

As "Montero" (Call Me By Your Name) was followed up by a letter to his 14-year-old self, Lil Nas' release of "Industry Baby" is accompanied by a message to himself at 20-years-old. He referenced the success of his breakout single Old Town Road and the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

"I know sometimes you feel like it's all downhill from here. I know your sexuality has made you feel like it's all downhill from here. I know your sexuality has made you feel like an outcast amongst your peers...And I need you to remember that the only person who has to believe in YOU is YOU," Lil Nas wrote, in part.

Both "Industry Baby" and "Montero" (Call Me By Your Name) will be featured on Lil Nas X's upcoming debut album Montero which doesn't have a release date.