Chance the Rapper Is Our Next Music Director
In March, the prolific Chicago hop-hop artist signaled a new creative era when he dropped his single “Child of God” and its accompanying video. In the clip, Gabonese artist Naïla Opiangah paints a large canvas, which serves as the track’s artwork. “When I met Naïla, we started having conversations about how artists can be stifled by outside forces and how dope it is to create independent from a gallery or label,” Chance explains. “The song’s mantra is ‘Do your thing, child.’ I want people to take it and apply it to their own lives.” Their collaboration marked the first of many to come; in May, Chance released another song, “The Highs and the Lows,” which features vocals by Joey Bada$$ and visuals by Gabonese photographer Yannis Davy Guibinga. For this issue, Chance curated a playlist around the theme of freedom, including songs that “speak explicitly to liberation and abolition,” as well as those “that feel like an escape.” Along with Tems’s “Free Mind,” which he says makes him feel at peace, Chance included “See Her Out (That’s Just Life)” by Francis and the Lights, about lifting others up, and Cody ChesnuTT’s “Chips Down (In No Landfill).” “That song was an important part of me realizing my purpose and getting back into my craft,” explains Chance.
Listen to Chance the Rapper's playlist exclusively on Apple Music.
This article originally appeared in the June/July 2022 issue of Harper's BAZAAR, available on newsstands June 7.
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