Freedom Without Expectation

Before reading this opinion piece, I encourage you to take a few minutes to watch this short video: #Tobeblack.

“Rap or Go to The League” – 2Chainz

Freedom Without Expectation

American Moor, the performance created and performed by Keith Hamilton Cobb, was a stroke of genius. Through his production, Cobb, explores the racially charged phenomenon of typecasting through the role of Othello. Being a middle-aged Black man, Cobb’s had a myriad of experiences being typecast due to the color of his skin, and he discusses it at length in this podcast interview, you can listen to here. However, by calling out the establishment in such a magnificent way, Cobb has opened the door for a younger generation of creatives to break the chains of typecasting forever.

This isn’t simply an essay, that shit’s boring. This is an exploration of one of the most polarizing figures in our world today, Lil Nas X. Lil Nas X, the definition of a man who can’t be boxed or type cast. I know, he isn’t an actor, and on the surface may seem disconnected from Cobb and American Moor. However, he is everything but. At just 22 years old Lil Nas X, has become a pop culture icon in a world where minority pop culture icons, specifically musicians often get forced into a role that aligns with deep seeded stereotypical assertions about the color of one’s skin. Listen to the clip from a Ted Talk given by Pastor Michael Smith, titled “Black murder is normal”, watch from the beginning until 3:56.

See what I’m saying? The most popular music amongst my peers is hip-hop, specifically music by Black, male hip-hop artists, about sex, drugs, and murder. Exactly the issue Pastor Smith, addresses in his talk. Don’t believe me? Check out the chorus lyrics from a song titled “Murder on My Mind” by YNW Melly:

“I wake up in the morning, I got murder on my mind

Ak-47’s, MAC11, Glocks and nines

And all these pussy n***** hating

Tryna know me off my grind

But I can’t let em do it,

I got murder on my mind”

Why do we accept this? Why do we overwhelmingly perpetuate these perceived notions about what a Black male musician should be? The music video for this song has racked up 475,000,000 views on YouTube, 702,223,925 streams on Spotify, and to date, has gone five times Platinum, selling over 5,000,000 physical copies. According to Pastor Mike, it’s because we’ve become numb to the disparities in our nation, and subconsciously expect Black men to act in a certain fashion. Bring on Lil Nas X.

 Lil Nas X has been crushing stereotypes and pissing off alt-right America since he broke onto the scene with his smash country/rap crossover “Old Town Road” featuring Billy Ray Cyrus. From the beginning, he broke racial barriers. A young, Black man, rapping to country tones in an old western style music video, with a cowboy hat, cowboy boots, spurs and every other piece of classic, white American cowboy imagery you can think of. Oh, and he’s openly gay.

Lil Nas X’s introduction to the world is exactly what Cobb, and Pastor Smith, are saying we need more of. Lil Nas X, blasted off into a world of internet stardom and became a voice for marginalized youth across the world in the process. As his popularity continued to grow, so did his stereotypical juxtapositions. Being a black, openly gay, hip-hop/popstar is something that has yet to be openly lived. Through use of provocative religious, and non-heteronormative visuals, coupled with support from major masculine, heterosexual artists such as Jack Harlow, Lil Nas X, is using his platform to be a voice for independent thought and freedom. He is breaking societies typecast boxes, and opening avenues of liberty for minority groups across the nation. To examine this, we can look at two Lil Nas X songs/music videos in particular, MONTERO, and INDUSTRY BABY (Feat. Jack Harlow).

I suggest watching at least parts of the videos before reading on. What follows is predicated on these visuals: MONTERO, INDUSTRY BABY

 Let’s start with “MONTERO”. The video opens with Lil Nas X, narrating. He says, “In life, we hide the parts of ourselves we don’t want the world to see. We lock them away, we tell them no, we banish them, but here we don’t. Welcome, to MONTERO.” The video then cuts to Lil Nas X, in women’s clothes with long fingernails sitting in the garden of Eden against the apple tree, while a serpent charges toward him. We’re not even 30 seconds into the video, and the myriad of rebellious imagery is amazingly complex. What this opening scene is telling young people across the world is that it’s imperative you be yourself, don’t be boxed in by the “rules” of religion, fuck societies typecast expectations, and fuck everybody older than you who’s telling you otherwise.

Near the end of the video, Lil Nas X shoots down a stripper pole into hell before giving the devil, who is a man, an extremely aggressive lap dance. Want to piss off conservative America? Give the devil a lap dance, make out with him and put it on the internet. You’ll have everyone on FOX News screaming about “the children” the next morning. If you’re worried about children, worry about censoring their feelings and identities, not the man rebelling against a system of racial and sexual expectation.

Let’s shift our attention to “INDUSTRY BABY” featuring Jack Harlow. Jack Harlow is an incredibly talented young, white rapper from Louisville, Kentucky. A straight southern white man, rapping on a song about breaking seemingly insurmountable barriers as the gay, black, rap star who gave the devil a lap dance. If that’s not powerful I don’t know what is. The video takes place in a prison, and starts with Lil Nas X in a pink jump suit singing:

“Baby back ayy,

Couple racks, ayy

Couple Grammy’s on him,

Couple plaques, ayy

That’s a fact, ayy”

What’s so amazing about this introduction is that it enables fans to see his determination turn to success in a simple fashion. With these few words he’s essentially saying, see everybody? I’m nobody but myself and I’m worth millions, I’ve won Grammy’s, my records have gone Platinum, and now I’m rapping about it all with Jack Harlow, a hypermasculine, white southerner. It seems as though each word and visual he produces has a middle finger pointed at everybody with expectations.

As the video continues and the first chorus comes in, the video cuts to Lil Nas X, with a group of naked black men performing a choreographed dance in the shower of the prison. In addition, the men wearing clothes in the other scenes of the video, are all dressed in matching pink jump suits, including Jack Harlow. This is a hip-hop/pop video, and typically those are full of lyrics about murder, sex, and drugs, couples with images of half-naked women, expensive jewelry, fast cars, and big houses. It appears each video is subtly connoting male blackness with violence, excess, and heterosexuality. Look at just the first thirty seconds of this Migos music video to see these themes in action: “Slippery” Video.

Lil Nas X critically opposes this created box with the lyrics in “INDUSTRY BABY”. In the second verse he sings,

“Tell a rap n****, “I don’t see ya”, ha

Tell a pop n***** like Bieber, ha

I don’t fuck bitches, I’m queer, ha”

While the language used is explicit and may not be suited for the ears of young children, these lyrics are very suited for the insecure teenager, or young adult who’s struggling to be themself in a world full of typecast boxes and pressure. With this video and these lyrics, Lil Nas X, has smashed establishment stereotypes and created a lane founded in freedom. I believe Keith Hamilton Cobb’s, American Moor, is a commentary on freedom of expression. I believe his message is that art, much like life, is expressive. It is not best produced or experienced in boxes predicated on race, gender, sexual identity or ideology. And it sure as shit is not best produced by the singular opinion and expectations of a white man with a linear voice.

It’s this intersectionality on the venn diagram that is Lil Nas X, Keith Hamilton Cobb, and Pastor Mike Smith, that exposes the oppressive expectations of minorities, specifically young Black men. Through art, all three of these individuals were able to call out a society gripped by typecast expectations and create a safer future for those who are marginalized. With the support of allies such as Jack Harlow, who speak to vastly different audiences with a myriad of wavering ideologies, the path to individual liberty of expression is being paved. We need more people like Lil Nas X, Keith Hamilton Cobb, and Pastor Mike. People to call out the establishment in provocative ways so we can continue to converse about our differences in an effort to embrace them with the hope of creating a more unified society.