Music

Lil Nas X Pulls Off an Epic Jailbreak in "Industry Baby" Music Video

info@hypebae.com (HYPEBAE)  Fri, 23 Jul 2021  HYPEBAE

Lil Nas X's music video for "Industry Baby," his new single, is a legendary clap-back at the homophobia the rapper continues to face.

Picking up where his teaser for the visual left off, Nas is sentenced to five years in Montero State Prison -- essentially for being gay -- and, three months later, has outfitted his jail cell with relics of his success: two Grammys, a platinum RIAA certification and a poster of his headline-making BET Awards performance. Outfitted in pink prison uniforms, the artist and his fellow inmates proceed to strip down for a spectacular dance routine in the showers.

Jack Harlow (featured on the track) then makes an entrance, handing Nas a book with a hammer hidden inside. Our hero proceeds to break out of jail, going unnoticed by Teen Wolf's Colton Haynes, who makes a cameo appearance (did you catch Jason Momoa, too?).  Nas then stages another triumphant group dance routine in the prison yard, sneering as he delivers the song's chorus: "Get your soldiers, tell 'em I ain't layin' low / You was never really rooting for me anyway / When I'm back up at the top, I wanna hear you say /He don't run from nothin', dog."

Compounding the visual's message, Lil Nas X is raising money for The Bail Project, a non-profit that works to end the cash bail system, which disproportionately affects Black Americans. "Music is the way I fight for liberation. It’s my act of resistance. But I also know that true freedom requires real change in how the criminal justice system works. Starting with cash bail," the rapper wrote.

Watch Lil Nas X's "Industry Baby" music video above, and head to The Bail Project to donate.

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