In a new song snippet shared on Instagram and Twitter, Chance the Rapper delights in a karmic story of George Washington’s death before weighing ideas like Black wealth, violent revolt, and voting. The 43-second clip boasts some of his most interesting bars and delivery in recent memory.
After weaving a mostly untrue yet symbolic narrative around the first American president’s dental health and final days (“George Washington died at the dentist getting fillings/he had slave teeth by the hundreds but bacteria by the millions”), Chance blasts into the present with agile rapping about modern Black life. His most recent feature, on fellow Chicago rapper Super Bwe’s “ACAB,” similarly weaves the history and current reality of anti-Blackness in the U.S., primarily in policing.
“I wholeheartedly believe if you couldn’t handle Chance at his wife guy phase, you don’t deserve him at whatever this is,” wrote one Twitter user in response to the newest clip. When another user, impressed with the soundbite, lauded Chance for supposedly returning to the acid use of his early career, Chance responded, “I’m not on acid but I’m def [sic] on y’all ass this year.”
Last week, on Instagram, Chance the Rapper hinted that he may drop something new this month.
Production in the new clip is courtesy of Nez — one half of the production duo Nez & Rio, collaborators to other blog era stars ScHoolboy Q, Wale, and A$AP Rocky — and Los Hendrix, one of the beat smiths behind SZA’s “Good Days.” Vic Mensa also appears on the song.