Chance the Rapper performs at The Meadows Festival on Sunday, Oct. 2, 2016. (Vicky Ford/Sneakshot)
Photo of Chance The Rapper taken by Vickey Ford of Sneakshot for Okayplayer.
Chance The Rapper performs at Common's AAHH! Fest in Chicago. (Johnny Fan | Okayplayer)
In a Twitter Q&A, Chance The Rapper revealed that black girls, a Christopher Nolan flick, and a gospel song that has repeatedly overwhelmed him with emotion were the inspirations behind his innovative new video for "How Great."
The mobile-friendly video featured Chance's cousin Nicole and a choir of other young girls singing before Chance and Jay Electronica performed of their verses from the song, a highlight from Chance's magnum opus Coloring Book. The video was released on Chance's Twitter account.
Using the hashtag #HowGreat, fans and publications submitted questions for Chance to reply to.
In one of the most touching tweets, Chance spoke about why he made the choir of women all black in the video.
"To give the best praise & worship possible," he said in response to Buzzfeed writer Sylvia Obell. "I wanted to showcase strength and fragility. That's how women who taught me how to pray look."
He also spoke about this being the first video he directed without director Austin Veasley, and the idea to make users lock their screens and rotate their mobile devices while watching the video. He said that he originally planned to only make one rotation, to accompany Francis Starlite's effects on Nicole's vocals.
"I shoulda been confident from the jump but this being the first video I directed without Austin I got scared," he tweeted. "Francis is using Prismizer on Nicole's vocal, originally my idea was just ONE rotation to visually match the change in vocal. But I liked it."
Chance's favorite part of the video, he said, was "shooting Jay Elec coming out the door performing Borden's Transported Man," a reference to the Christopher Nolan-directedThe Prestige. He lists that film, God, Francis & The Lights' music video for "Friends," the iPhone and his cousin Nicole as the video's inspiration.
Chance also revealed the meaning behind the song for him: Nicole performing the gospel song "How Great Is Our God" at pivotal moments of his life.
"My cousin Nicole performed it at my grandmother's funeral, my uncle's funeral and my daughter's christening and each time I cried," he said.
See the tweets and revisit the music video below.
#HowGreat Official Video featuring my cousin Nicole. Shot on iPhone. Lock yo screen pic.twitter.com/KqDy5hqv68
Lil Chano From 79th (@chancetherapper) October 20, 2016
