Lil Nas X has unveiled the artwork for his highly-anticipated debut album, Montero, which arrives on September 17th.
The record has been a long-time coming, and it’s been a couple of years since he made his breakthrough with ‘Old Town Road’, with X now finally ready to share his first body of work. He officially confirmed the project in June, and since then, Nas has firmly been in promo mode.
He linked up with Jack Harlow for the NSFW single, ‘Industry Baby’, which saw him install Kanye West as a producer. He’s also been busy trolling Drake over his album cover and being his devilish self on social media.
Now, he’s shared the cover for his debut, and Nas says the artwork was influenced by John Stephens’ piece ‘Genesis II’. Commenting on the image, Nas says: “Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work.”
Furthermore, he recently said: “Creating this album has been therapy for me. I’ve learned to let go of trying to control people’s perceptions of who I am, what I can do, and where I will be. I’ve realized the only opinion of me that really matters is my own.”
Last month, Nas discussed the extent to which he refused any distractions when making the record. In fact, he solely wanted to focus on the music to such a degree that he turned down an alluring role in Euphoria.
“I was actually going to do Euphoria, but I didn’t want to take time away from finishing my album,” he said to Variety. “I definitely want to get into acting, but I feel I have to give it my all, and I want to focus on music for right now. I want my first movie to be amazing.”
Check out the artwork below.