“The Heart & The Tongue” by Chance the Rapper

Chance the Rapper is a musician who has seen it all. His 2016 project Coloring Book – not even an album per se but officially a mixtape – earned him a Grammy Award. At one point he was arguably even the hottest rapper in the game, receiving personal, public shoutouts from First Lady Michelle Obama herself. 

But then he did get around to releasing a proper studio album, The Big Day (2019), which did not perform as expected. In fact relatively speaking it faired so disappointingly that at a point, fans of the Rapper were under the impression that he might hurt himself.

Well one major factor that would logically contribute to that fall from grace is this. Chance is not a conventional rapper. Yes, as already noted he has enjoyed massive mainstream success. But unlike his contemporaries, he does not tend to make music about sex, drugs, money and violence. 

And considering that those topics are the established and widely-accepted norms, all things considered we can say that it was inevitable he faced some type of backlash, if you will, sooner or later.

“The Heart & The Tongue”

Well the theory that we are putting forth is that this track (“The Heart & The Tongue”), at least from a personal standpoint as far as the vocalist at hand is concerned, is based on such a premise. 

Here, we witness a war being waged between Chance’s “heart” and his “tongue”. And the theory we are putting forth is that the “heart”, as used in the song, is symbolic of his good side, i.e. the relatively-peaceful lyrics that we know and love him for. 

But the “tongue” (also referred to as the “mind”) is representative of the temptation to embrace the dark side. And for him, that could be to start rapping about guns and gold and what have you, which would likely serve him better professionally speaking. 

And considering his overall rap skills and established standing, we can safely conclude that if Chance wanted to take such a route, he could easily do so.

But with that somewhat-complex assertion aside, it appears that what Chance has tasked himself with first and foremost on this track is showing off his impressive lyrical skills. 

And as implied he does deal with some very-serious subject matter, referencing the likes of “Pontius Pilate”, “The Devil”, “politicians”, “Jesus” and even an ancient Greek philosopher called “Thales of Miletus”. That’s Chance for you, always striving to take the intellectual approach.

The Heart or The Tongue?

And whereas the battle between his heart and tongue is never decisively concluded, in going through the song it does in fact read like an ongoing case of having to choose between following the masses or doing what one feels is the right choice. 

Moreover, Chance is not only one challenged with such a burden. Rather the lyrics come off as if we are all being deceived, so to speak. Or put differently, maybe our minds are not focused in the right direction. And this is partially by the design of those who lead us. But again, the onus is on the individual, such as Chance, to choose between the “heart” and “tongue”.

And we can agree, as indicated by the very first line of the song, that this is an issue which the vocalist himself is facing. But Chance, being the intellectual that he is, is also able to perceive that he is not alone in such and drops a dope rhyme pertaining to the matter to boot.

Release Date of “The Heart & The Tongue”

This is the first song Chance the Rapper has released as the headline artist in 2021. And he made this move on 5 March of said year. Moreover he had teased the track a few days earlier, on 1 March. And to note, “The Heart & The Tongue” is a standalone single.

Creation of “The Heart & The Tongue”

Chance the Rapper wrote “The Heart & The Tongue” himself. He also produced the track (alongside DexLvL) and directed the song’s music video. 

The said video was filmed at a location known as the House of Kicks, which serves as his studio for both creating music and film production. 

In fact in terms of the overall project, the Rapper elaborated that he is “proud to be releasing new music again” as well as being |ever prouder to be honing (his) film skills and getting  better behind the camera”.

NOTE:

Chance the Rapper is an artist hailing from Chi-town. He comes from an intellectual, politically-connected family which would explain why he raps in such a manner. 

Apparently he never pursued a higher education himself, having been recognized for his musical skills since high school (which was also around the time he became professionally active). However, he went on to receive an honorary doctorate via Dillard University in 2018.