rapper Lil Nas X has collaborated with fashion brand Mschf on the ‘Satan shoes’, 666 pairs of Nike Air Max 97s, with a drop of blood mixed in with the ink filling an air bubble on the shoe. Nike was not involved in the production and has firmly distanced itself from the shoes.
“We do not have a relationship with Little Nas X or MSCHF. Nike did not design or release these shoes, and we do not endorse them,” Nike said in a statement.
According to MSCHF, the blood was offered freely by six of their workers.
The collaboration is to celebrate Lil Nas X’s latest song, Montero (Call Me By Your Name), an ode to his sexuality and identity as a gay man.
The vibrant music video sees the singer/rapper give Satan what can only be described as a lap dance. It currently has more than 29 million YouTube views after it was released on Friday.
Daniel Greenberg, one of MSCHF’s founders, said in an email to the New York Times that “‘Sacrificed’ is just a cool word – it was just the MSCHF team that gave the blood.”
The ‘Satan Shoes’ each cost US$1,018 and are a sequel to the brand’s ‘Jesus Shoes’, which contained holy water from the River Jordan.
After the shoes received some criticism on social media, Lil Nas X released a YouTube video titled ‘Lil Nas X Apologises For Satan Shoes‘.
The video starts with him holding a pair of the shows and beginning to apologise before it cuts to the song’s music video where he gives Satan the aforementioned lap dance.
Some said the shoes were evidence that Satanism in the music industry is real.
Lil Nas X can literally give satan a lap dance in his music video, and release a pair of satan shoes, and people still don't believe that there are satan worshippers in the music industry.
That's the level of delusion we're dealing with.
— Matt Stephens (@MattSStephens) March 27, 2021
Lil Nas X tweeted a defense of the shoes, as well as reflecting on the themes of the video.
y’all gotta admit… the shoes hard! u cannot sit here and lie
— ☆ (@LilNasX) March 28, 2021
i spent my entire teenage years hating myself because of the shit y’all preached would happen to me because i was gay. so i hope u are mad, stay mad, feel the same anger you teach us to have towards ourselves.
— ☆ (@LilNasX) March 27, 2021
The shoes have a pentagram-shaped charm on them, and the Biblical passage Luke 10:18 – “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven” – printed along the side.
Images: MSCHF
