Lil Nas X’s album Montero is on the way, and if there’s anybody in music who knows how to hilarious drum up attention online, it’s Nas. His latest stunt is particularly good: To promote the album, he has shared a “maternity” photoshoot for the album with which he is currently “pregnant.”
Despite how it may seem, this isn’t a reaction to Drake’s maternal Certified Lover Boy cover art, but just a fortuitous coincidence. Nas told People that when he saw Drake’s cover, he thought, “There’s no way the universe is lining up this perfect for this to happen,” Nas thought.
SURPRISE! I can’t believe i’m finally announcing this. My little bundle of joy “MONTERO” is due September 17, 2021 ??? pic.twitter.com/dry8lAhpPr
— MONTERO ? (@LilNasX) September 2, 2021
Nas actually came up with the maternity shoot idea after hearing Megan Thee Stallion’s verse on his song “Dolla Sign Slime” for the first time, saying, “I was like, ‘Oh my God, this is amazing,’ so I immediately called my stylist. She was like, ‘Wow, this all comes together. Your album. Your baby.’ I was like, ‘Yeah, this is my baby, huh?’ As a joke, she was like, ‘Yeah, you should do a pregnancy shoot.’ I was like, ‘You know what? That’s actually brilliant.’ So now we have this entire thing coming out, and it’s going to be amazing.”
Along with the maternity photos, Nas even had an ultrasound mocked up:
https://t.co/iqhwxFeq1i pic.twitter.com/Jb5B12J8ue
— MONTERO ? (@LilNasX) September 2, 2021
Elsewhere during the piece, he spoke about what fans can expect from the album: “You’re getting a lot of stories about me. You’re getting a lot of stories about my past and where I want to be in my love life. But they’re also a bop. I feel like I finally found a great balance between being as real as possible within my music and making a hit song.”
Check out the People feature here.
Montero is out 9/17 via Columbia Records. Pre-save it here.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.