Lil Nas X is ushering in the era of MONTERO with some new cover art, which he says was inspired by the one and only SpongeBob Squarepants.

We’ve all known for some time that Lil Nas X is an icon. It’s a fact as true as the sun being hot and the Earth being round. Well, he decided it was a good time to remind us just how iconic he is by dropping the cover art for his much-awaited debut album MONTERO, and opening up about the influences for the same.

Turns out, the cover art for MONTERO is inspired by the one and only SpongeBob Squarepants. The cover shows Nas floating in the centre, surrounded by a rainbow halo. Behind him is a hyper-real version of a modern-day Garden of Eden. Turns out, Nas’ levitation is a direct call-back to SpongeBob Squarepants. More specifically, a meme from the show.

Nas gracefully shared the reference image in a tweet as well.

And just because the genius doesn’t end there, Nas also revealed what the inspiration for the Garden of Eden behind him was.

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“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.” tweeted Nas, referencing the piece Genesis II by John Stephens.

In another tweet, Nas clarified that the “the album art is a continuous loop, to represent the circle of life.”

Some eagle-eyed fans also caught that Nas had actually been dropping hints about the album art ever since ‘Industry Baby’. In the music video for the song, Nas can be seen donning a pink prison uniform, sporting a rendition of his silhouette on the cover art on the back.

Ahead of the reveal, Nas also dropped a visual teaser for the album, which shows versions of him wrapped up in futuristic cocoons, perhaps a direct reference to MONTERO being a therapeutic album for him in terms of recognising his own identity.

“I believe the pandemic helped me get out of the idea of trying to please everybody, and the idea of ‘He’s a cool gay person; he’s an acceptable gay person.’ I used to see things like that as a compliment, but it’s not.” he told Variety in an interview last month.

“It just means you’re a people pleaser, and they never become legends. I wanted to be even more authentic in my music and let people into my life. I’m much more confident now — in my music, myself, my sexuality, the things that I believe that I stand for.” he said at the time.

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Check out the teaser for MONTERO by Lil Nas X:

https://twitter.com/LilNasX/status/1431339749650751489

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