Lil Nas X Drops Cyberpunk-Themed Music Video For ‘Panini’
Country hip-hop sensation Lil Nas X has temporarily taken over the Internet after dropping his newest music video for his Nirvana-sampled single, “Panini,” Thursday morning (Sept. 5). The cyberpunk-themed visual has fans drawing parallels to the Denis Villeneuve-directed Blade Runner sequel and Netflix's hit series Black Mirror with its otherworldly visuals.
In the 2-minute video, Lil Nas has left the pastures of Wild Wild West and Los Angeles neighborhoods far behind to transport us to the very distant future.
Flying cars are abound, holographic billboards make Times Square appear prehistoric, and dancing robots impressively hitting the "woah" dance are a Thing. In place of his signature cowboy regalia, the Atlanta rap star has traded in his Wranglers for a cyberpunk spandex bodysuit that is the stuff of sci-fi dreams.
The Mike Diva-directed cyberpunk visual opens with a young woman (played by Disney multihyphenate and meme queen Skai Jackson) walking in the dystopian streets of a technologically advanced city.
As she passes one holographic Lil Nas X ad after another, Skai grows bored of the rapper. As if alerted by some unseen bat signal, Lil Nas X materializes out of nowhere to win her back, and thus the chase is on. At one point, Lil Nas shows up in the flesh leading a troupe of dancing robots that fails to impress Skai.
They eventually take to the chase to the skies. Just when Skai think she’s lost him and kicks back to relax, Lil Nas drops out of the sky onto the wing of the plane, prompting Skai to abandon ship.
In one of the video’s most hilarious moments, she resorts to drastic measures to finally escape from the Atlanta rapper and hilariously jumps out of the plane mid-flight with a jetpack strapped on. Lil Nas concedes that he might have lost this round but he hasn’t lost all hope.
He plays his final hand and turns the billboards into a forest of trees that transforms the city into a springtime mirage. The colorful display brings a smile to Skai’s face before the video ends.
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The plane scene has spawned a new meme that is already taking over Twitter. In less than six hours of its release, the "Panini" music video was the top trending video on YouTube with over one million views. Check out the most hilarious memes and watch the new release below.
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