Okay, there is something we need to talk about. Chance the Rapper just recently put out a recorded version of him singing the Arthur theme song. Like most kids, I grew up watching that television show. Now, although definitely not my favorite, that theme song always rang in my ears hours after the television had been turned off and Arthur was done being watched. It stuck with me. And Chance managed to bring it back with the same wonderment and excitement I had when watching Arthur as a child.

Why do we watch our favorite movies over and over again? Why do we reread our favorite books? Why do we watch old home videos or look at old photographs? It’s the closest we get to going back in time. Nostalgia is a weird thing. Listening to one song or looking at a single item can take me back years and flood me with memories of things I’d otherwise forgotten. I can’t get over that. Nostalgia is so weird; it makes you feel sad and happy at the same time. Someone that can capture nostalgic feelings for basically an entire generation is what truly amazes me. Chance succeeded in that. His rendition of Wonderful Everyday: Arthur instantly brings you back in time. He puts his own personal flair on it. The multiple vocals (Wyclef Jean, Jessie Ware), how he puts his own twist on the beat, and the almost reggae tone to it makes it even more transcendent. I showed it to my mom (who as much as she supports my love for it, has no great love of the usual hip hop music I show her). She was instantly taken aback. As a mother of three she instantly recognized where the song came from and was blown away by Chance’s version. If you have any type of high caliber headphones I recommend using them to listen to the song. I let her use my Bose headphones (that I unfortunately paid a disgusting amount for), which let you hear every vocal, every instrument, and every tone and beat, used within the song. The song is so detailed. To the clapping of the hands to the drums, Chance has created a masterpiece, which doesn’t just connect with people musically but also mentally.

As a soon to be college freshmen, I’ve been looking back at my life lately and trying to discover whether or not I made the right choices growing up. Am I the person I want to be? Did I do the best I could in school? (Answer: definitely not). One thing I don’t think about much: the future. I have a personal mantra that is looking to the future is what lets you miss on what’s happening now. I’m the type of person where I won’t believe something is actually happening until it actually happens. For example, my sister is getting married in October. I’ll have trouble getting excited for that event until literally it is around two days away. I don’t like looking towards the future when there is so much to look at in the present. On the other hand, I can be a bit of a hypocrite. This is because I look back in time a lot. Usually not even on purpose. It’s hard to have so many memories and not have certain triggers for them. This is such a mystery. For someone who tries to live in the present as much as possible why is it I can listen to a single song and basically “hop in the Delorian” back in time to a certain memory that that song reminds me of.

Allowing someone to escape time is special. To throw someone back in time to when they were a little kid with no worries in the world is something very few things can accomplish. This song shows me that Chance is going to be great. He gets it. He understands what the rap game is. Not as independent as Childish Gambino, but he really knows that music is more than one dimension just like Gambino does. It’s the collective uniting of more than one aspect of something that creates something so much more than a regular album or song. Kanye obviously gets it. So does Kendrick. But you can go back in time and look at the Beatles or Michael Jackson. Both of them would create something else along with their music. They would transport you into another world, or time, or even just serenade you into thinking about the world differently. People ask me all the time why I love music and it’s so hard for me to explain. However, Chance’s song ends up explaining it better than I ever could.