What Lil Nas X’s ‘Montero’ Means To The Young, Black & Queer: A Coming Out Story – Refinery29

Despite Lil Nas X’s massive commercial success and likeablity, Montero also illustrates the challenges of being Black, queer, and visible. In the stand-out song on the album,“Dead Right Now,” Lil Nas X takes on the pitfalls and aftermath of being out and famous through his relationship with his mother. In the bridge, he takes on her voice in a “drunk” phone call he describes her making to him, filled with insults, financial requests and eternal damnation. “You ain’t even all that pretty /You ain’t even all that nigga / You ain’t helpin’ out with me /God won’t forgive ya.” He’s shared in past interviews that his mother deals with addiction to drugs, something he also refers to on this track: “Told me she’d be clean but I’m knowin’ that her a** is a deceiver / My momma told me that she love me, don’t believe her.”