Lil Nas X has announced that he is going to university to join a Biblical Studies programme.
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The rapper took to his Instagram page yesterday (January 9) to share an image of his acceptance letter to Liberty University, a Christian university in Virginia. He will be joining the university to take part in a dual concentration in Christian Leadership and Biblical Studies, with the course starting later this year.
“I know some of yall hate me right now but i want yall to know im literally about to go to college for biblical studies in the fall,” he wrote in the caption. “Not everything is a troll! Anyways IM A STUDENT AGAIN! LETS GOOO.”
The backlash he mentions refers to that concerning his upcoming single ‘J Christ’.
Sharing an announcement for the new song earlier this week, Lil Nas X faced controversy after the artwork showed him lying on a crucifix, with five bystanders beginning to raise him off the ground.
“My new single is dedicated to the man who had the greatest comeback of all time,” he wrote in the caption, and he also posted a picture on X/Twitter, featuring four images of himself in priest robes with the words: “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, amen.”
MY NEW SINGLE IS DEDICATED TO THE MAN WHO HAD THE GREATEST COMEBACK OF ALL TIME!
J CHRIST
JANUARY 12, 2024
00:00 EST
BE THERE! pic.twitter.com/JEX6sSTft5
— ✟ (@LilNasX) January 8, 2024
New song and visual next week! –
Official art dropping soon. –
[] pic.twitter.com/gIgdW8rAJR
— ✟ (@LilNasX) January 3, 2024
A clip for the song saw him nailed to a gold cross that suddenly transforms into a mechanical suit complete with a halo.
Responding to apparent criticism of the religious aesthetic used, the rapper took to social media on Monday (January 8) to deny making a “mockery” out of Christianity.
“The crazy thing is nowhere in the picture is a mockery of Jesus,” he wrote. “Jesus’s image is used throughout history in people’s art all over the world. I’m not making fun of shit,” he added. “Yall just gotta stop trying to gatekeep a religion that was here before any of us were even born. Stfu.”
‘J Christ’ will be released at midnight on 12 January, and is set to arrive with his first-ever self-directed video. Pre-order/pre-save the single here.
As highlighted by Billboard, the news that Lil Nas X will be taking a Biblical Studies course at university comes following a series of increasingly ambiguous TikTok posts.
Posted over the past couple of days, the brief updates see the artist claim that he was “blackballed” from releasing new music last year after “promoting God to the masses”. It also sees him label the industry as “wicked” and threaten to “expose” other artists.
“Me staying with the police department 24/7 for the next 5 days before i expose the music industry for what they did to me,” he wrote on one post, sharing a video where he is stood with two officers next to a police car. “Evil will not stop what god has planned.”
The criticism Lil Nas X received for the artwork to his upcoming single doesn’t mark the first time that he has been criticised for his use of religious imagery.
Back in 2021, the musician faced controversy after promoting that he would be selling selling 666 pairs of limited edition “Satan Shoes” – each containing a drop of real human blood. The shoes were supported by the Church of Satan (via The Independent) and led to mixed options online. They were later recalled following a lawsuit from Nike, after being designed without permission from the sportswear giant.
In other Lil Nas X news, the rapper recently responded to Dave Chapelle‘s joke about his 2021 track ‘Montero (Call Me By Your Name)’, as featured on a Netflix special.
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