Lil Nas X gets sentenced to 'gay prison' for 'Industry Baby'

Lil Nas X and Jack Harlow go to ‘gay prison’ for hot, pink ‘Industry Baby’ video

A man posing in a hot pink cowboy suit and hat

July 23, 2021 9:31 AM PT

Hey, it’s a holiday: a.k.a. the day Lil Nas X decided to bless us with his latest single, “Industry Baby.”

Following the chart-topping success of his sexy, satanic sensation “Montero (Call Me by Your Name),” the rapper, singer and social media wizard dropped the vibrant music video Thursday night for his new collaboration with rapper Jack Harlow — and it’s already a viral phenomenon.

“I told you long ago, on the road / I got what they waiting for,” the “Old Town Road” hitmaker sings in the chorus. “I don’t run from nothing, dog / 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 / Get your soldiers, tell ‘em that the break is over.”

Set in the fictional cells of “Montero State Prison” after a judge (played by Lil Nas X) sentences Lil Nas X (also played by Lil Nas X) to five years, “Industry Baby” sees the musician and his fellow prisoners bulking up in the courtyard, strutting through the halls and dancing nude in the showers.

Dressed in matching hot-pink jumpsuits, Lil Nas X and Harlow eventually conspire to break out of prison “Shawshank Redemption” style, freeing the rest of the jail with them. The video also includes a brief cameo from “Teen Wolf” actor Colton Haynes, who plays a prison guard caught on the job watching the music video for “Montero” on his phone.

“My track record so clean, they couldn’t wait to just bash me / I must be gettin’ too flashy, y’all shouldn’t have let the world gas me,” Harlow raps on the track.

Keeping with the liberating theme of the video, “Industry Baby” was released in partnership with the Bail Project, a community bail fund fighting mass incarceration across the country. A donation link for the nonprofit is listed in the YouTube description of the video.

“Music is the way I fight for liberation. It’s my act of resistance,” Lil Nas X said in a statement shared on the Bail Project website. “But I also know that true freedom requires real change in how the criminal justice system works. Starting with cash bail.

“This isn’t just theoretical for me. It’s personal. I know the pain that incarceration brings to a family. And I know the disproportionate impact that cash bail has on Black Americans. ... Let’s bring people home & let’s fight for freedom and equality.”

The highly anticipated release of “Industry Baby” comes shortly after the Grammy winner put out “Montero” and “Sun Goes Down” — the first two singles off his forthcoming debut studio album, which is due “soon” according to its Marvel-inspired trailer.

Per usual, Lil Nas X has spent the hours leading up to and following the premiere of “Industry Baby” amplifying his funniest fans and expertly shutting down his haters on social media.

“[I] literally went to hell and twerked on satan but gay prison is where you draw the line ?!” he responded to someone who argued that “lil nas x is definitely doing too much now.”

“[S]aying this in advance so y’all won’t blame me,” he tweeted earlier this week. “THE INDUSTRY BABY VIDEO IS NOT FOR YOUR KIDS!”

You can watch the full, NSFW video for “Industry Baby,” directed by Christian Breslauer and produced by Andrew Lerios, here.