Chance The Rapper Surprise Releases Uptempo ‘My Own Thing’ and Melancholic Christmas Song

Back in July, after teasing a new album, Chance The Rapper released four new songs with little fanfare. He repeated the release strategy on Thursday, dropping two new song with no warning. “My Own Thing” and “The Man Who Has Everything” hit streaming services, with the similar stark artwork of his earlier 2018 releases.

“The Man Who Has Everything” is, kind of, a Christmas song. Chance wants kids to learn about Jesus before Santa and is “tryna turn Confederate flags into confetti strings.” It’s all built on a melancholy sample, and Chance is mournful — a far cry from his bouyant Christmas record Merry Christmas Lil Mama, with Jeremih. “My Own Thing,” similarly, is closer to the vintage Chance — it’s built on lightly gospel-inflected, bouncy piano and organ, and features a verse from Chicago’s Joey Purp.

The songs — if they’re the last thing Chance releases this year — cap a busy year for the rapper, even without a full-length. He starred in a film this year, endorsed a candidate in Chicago’s heavily contested mayoral race and recently signed on to two high profile projects: Producing a musical, and judging a Netflix reality competition.