Lil Nas X’s New Music Video Goes After The BET Awards For Giving Him Zero Nominations
Earlier this month, Lil Nas X called out the BET Awards on Twitter for giving him a total of zero nominations for 2022, despite the fact that he had “maybe 3 of the biggest songs of last year & a critically acclaimed album” (his words). It was especially rude considering BET nominated Jack Harlow for Best Male Hip Hop Artist. To put that into perspective, Nas’ album Montero was indeed lauded by critics (it has an 85 on Metacritic), while Jack’s sophomore effort was universally panned. Pitchfork said it was “among the most insipid, vacuous statements in recent pop history”). A few days later Nas tweeted: “this not over no bet award this is about the bigger problem of homophobia in the black community.” He added that “y’all can sit and pretend all u want but imma risk it all for us.”
Now the 23-year-old has taken a swipe at BET in his new music video, “Late to da Party (F*CK BET)”. First of all, there’s that title. Then there’s the opening lyrics: “Fuck BET, fuck BET, fuck BET!” The video also features Nas Photoshopping a picture of a pee-filled toilet containing the BET Award he won for “Old Town Road (Remix)” in 2019. It ends with him crashing his car into the BET Awards, getting on the stage, and singing “Fuck BET” while he throws money around. Hmmm. Can any academics try to decode the meaning of this video? Cuz I’m lost.
Here’s Nas’ new video, which also features NBA YoungBoy:
The image of the award in the pee-toilet pays homage to Kanye West tweeting an image of his Grammy in the toilet (Nas confirmed the inspiration on TikTok):
Lil Nas Xโs โLate To Da Partyโ cover art pays homage to Kanye West. pic.twitter.com/2xi92UbU4K
— ๐๐ผ๐ ๐๐ โ๏ธ LTDP FRIDAY (@lilnasxmajor) June 23, 2022
Nas released a preview of the track a couple of weeks ago:
FUCK BET! FUCK BET! ๐คง pic.twitter.com/bnG2UP7Hlo
— obamas cousin (@LilNasX) June 7, 2022
So far BET hasn’t responded to the music video, but they did make a statement after Nas released that snippet of the song, via People:
“We love Lil Nas X. He was nominated for a Best New Artist BET Award in 2020, and we proudly showcased his extraordinary talent and creativity on the show twice.”
“He performed ‘Old Town Road’ with Billy Ray Cyrus at BET Awards 2019 and his BET Awards 2021 performance [of “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)”] was a highlight of our show. No one cheered louder that night than BET,” continued the statement.
“Unfortunately, this year, he was not nominated by BET’s Voting Academy, which is comprised of an esteemed group of nearly 500 entertainment professionals in the fields of music, television, film, digital marketing, sports journalism, public relations, influencers, and creative arts,” added BET. “No one from BET serves as a member of the Voting Academy.”
“At BET, we are passionate advocates for the wonderful diversity that exists within our community,” concluded the note. “We are committed to using all of our platforms to provide visibility and inclusion for all of the many intersections of the Black community.”
Speaking of yellow, as you can see in the header pic, present-day Nas is serving the ramen special via his head. And he’s not ashamed to give credit where credit is due:
@lilnasx
The main difference between Nas’ noodles and Justin Timberlake’s is that Nas’ are boiled and Justin’s were uncooked:
Justin Timberlake's ramen-esque hair… #ExplainThe90sIn4Words pic.twitter.com/d1GaIwTYiG
— Grabble (@Grabble) January 22, 2015
Justin’s noodle-head is giving “my friend Britney from middle school who would bring raw instant ramen [Mr. Noodles, for all you Canadians] for lunch every day, crush it up, add the chicken seasoning, and eat it out of the bag with her fingers like it was chips.” And I was jealous because all my mom packed me was a tuna sandwich on whole wheat with carrots and a granola bar. Stupid well-balanced meal!
Pic: JOHN NACION/startraksphoto.com