While the city of Chicago has been commemorated in quite a few songs (perhaps most famously Frank Sinatra’s “My Kind Of Town”), it still lags behind New York City in sheer numbers of odes. Thankfully, Chance The Rapper is trying to even the score with his brand new Chicago-centric music video for “Angels,” a song he premiered last year on The Late Show and which is currently available for free on iTunes. Fans have long been anticipating Chance’s follow-up to 2013’s Acid Rap, and this charming music video could be a precursor of great things to come in his next mixtape, which Chance recently announced will be released later this month.
Much like the song itself, the video for “Angels” is a joyful, soulful tribute to Chicago. In addition to flying over downtown in his signature White Sox cap, Chance and featured artist Saba also spend time in and on Chicago’s public transportation system, as well as in front of the iconic Chicago Board of Trade Building. Frequent Chance The Rapper collaborator/Chicago native Austin Vesely directed the video, and the animation comes from Hebru Brand Studios, which was started by Chicago graffiti-artist-turned-painter Hebru Brantley, whose distinctive work can be seen all over the city.
Naturally, as a Chicago-based company, we at The A.V. Club approve of this celebration of our hometown. However, we feel we should acknowledge that Chicago’s public transportation doesn’t generally feature quite as many attractive dancers as it does in this video.