It’s been almost two years since the release of Chance The Rapper’s debut album The Big Day and he hasn’t released a new single since then — “The Return” doesn’t count, that was for a re-release of his and Jeremih’s Christmas album, and we’re not entirely sure it was all-new, to begin with. Since then, Chance has spent more time with his family while the dust settles, bringing with it a lawsuit from his former manager, a countersuit from Chance, and a whole host of quarantine movie opinion tweets from the Windy City rapper.
However, it looks like he may finally be hopping back on that horse this year, as he recently tweeted a short clip of what looks like a new music video with the caption, “The Heart & The Tongue.” Today, he confirmed that the video will be dropping on Friday with a separate tweet replying to the first, prompting an excited reaction from fans, praising the serpentine rhymes on the new track, as well as the stripped-down beat.
The Heart & The Tongue
pic.twitter.com/fADzh3VrHd— Chance The Rapper (@chancetherapper) March 1, 2021
— Chance The Rapper (@chancetherapper) March 3, 2021
The new track doesn’t exactly mark a reinvention for The Rapper, but it does seem like he’s getting back to basics after blowing out the production budget on his last two projects. The time away seems to have done him some good; earlier this year, he reunited with Vic Mensa on a track for the first time since they were teenagers on “Shelter” and his verse on Justin Bieber’s “Holy” seemed well-received as well. I won’t say “the old Chance” is back because he never left — I’ll die on my “The Big Day was good” hill — but the older, wiser Chance is getting back in touch with the version that made us all fall in love with him in the first place and that can only be a good thing.
Chance’s new track releases in full this Friday. Check out the snippet above.