Puppets are a time-honored music video tradition, dating back to at least the long-forgotten year of 2002 when Weezer’s “Keep Fishin’” video prominently featured The Muppets. And now Chance The Rapper, Chicago’s current favorite son, has added his own entry to the grand history of “music videos that have puppets in them” with the release of “Same Drugs.” This video doesn’t have any famous Muppets, but it does have a big, furry thing dressed like a flapper hanging out with Chance while he croons at a piano.
It’s an appropriately trippy setup for a song called “Same Drugs,” but it really picks up when the song turns into a duet and the puppet begins singing with Chance and lamenting the fact that the two of them have grown so far apart. Eventually, Chance leaves the piano and walks backstage where he’s surrounded by puppets, suggesting that the whole world has changed and left him behind. Kermit’s not there, but it’s probably a more meaningful message than whatever “Keep Fishin’” was about anyway.