Lil Nas X Channels Buffy, “Thriller” And More In New “Rodeo” Music Video

We’re going to watch this ‘till we can’t no more.

On Thursday, Lil Nas X debuted the music video for his new song “Rodeo” featuring Nas and it’s filled with some amazing pop culture references. In it, the Grammy-winning artist transforms into a vampire as he makes his way through his retro horror movie-inspired story. Earlier this week, he teased that the music video was coming by posting a behind-the-scenes selfie from the set where can be seen all-vamped up.

Ahead of the video’s release, the 20-year-old shared where his inspiration for the music video came from. Taking to Twitter, he shared snaps from Michael Jackson‘s Thriller music video, Eddie Murphy and Angela Bassett in Vampire in Brooklyn, Sarah Michelle Gellar in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Keanu Reeves in The Matrix.

Kicking things off with a shout-out to 2004’s Saw, Lil Nas X walks into an ominous neon green lit phone booth and answers a call from an unknown person. “Remember me? I want to play a game?” the caller asks, to which he replies, “Why don’t you say that to my face?” and hangs up the phone. Before you know it, he’s bitten by a vampire and begins his transformation.

Now sporting threatening red pupils, the “Old Town Road” singer makes his way down a suburban street as he adjusts to his new body.

Meanwhile, the people of the town, who are not thrilled by his arrival, hang garlic, hold wooden crosses and shoot arrows to keep him away. Unfazed, he continues to walk down the street, showing off his dance moves in the process.

Once his transformation in complete, the rapper rocks a black leather jumpsuit featuring dramatic spikes, along with a pair of pointy ears and a blinged out set of fangs.

For Nas’ verse, the “Panini” singer has another epic costume change as the two channel The Matrix. Taking on the part of Neo, Lil Nas X wears a black and neon green jumpsuit and pair of tiny black sunglasses.

For his part, Nas becomes Laurence Fishburne‘s  Morpheus with a leather jacket and black oval sunglasses. Fully committing to the 1999 film, the “Patience” rapper presents Lil Nas X with a red and blue pill before the duo is swarmed by an army of futuristic assassins.

At peace with his new life as a vampire, Lil Nas X can be seen hanging upside down like a bat as he basks in the full moon. In the final moments of the video, he treats fans to another dance break on an abandoned road as the credits roll.

Once the “Rodeo” video premiered, Lil Nas X weighed in on fan reactions via Twitter. One user tweeted that the supernatural nature of the video suggested that he was blatantly supporting satanism, to which the rapper innocently responded, “i just wanted to be a vampire man.”

Fans were also quick to question why Cardi Bwasn’t featured in the music video despite appearing on the single version of the track. In another tweet, addressed the rumors that the two rappers were feuding and assured his followers that they weren’t true. 

“i didn’t ‘kick’ cardi off of rodeo,” he tweeted. “she couldn’t do the video. we cool tho.”

After retweeting his favorite tweets, Lil Nas X made an exciting announcement: “NOW THAT RODEO IS OUT! NEW MUSIC SEASON IS OTW!!!”