Hear Taylor Bennett Celebrate Pride, Self-Love With New Song ‘Be Yourself’
Taylor Bennett, Chance the Rapper’s younger brother, has dropped a new song titled “Be Yourself.” The celebratory single features vocalist Bianca Shaw on the outro.
Above a buoyant beat, Bennett celebrates individuality and calls for self-love. He outlines his life, from struggling in school to his rising career. “I’m an outstanding Afro-American bisexual havin’ shit,” he asserts on the song. “Change your dreams if they average.”
Shaw joins later, singing the song’s outro and repeating the sentiment “diamonds take pressure,” which Bennett says at the very beginning of the track. “You know, deep down/We’re all our own kind,” she adds.
“Growing up on the south side of Chicago, I was not open about my sexuality for a long time,” Bennett told Time. He came out as bisexual just before his 21st birthday in early 2017. “Being a rapper, being in the industry, going to classical schools, and really getting exposure to different opinions and lifestyles made me want to use my music platform as a vehicle to talk about something that is very often shaded in American history.”
Like his older brother, Bennett has remained an independent artist. He has self-released two albums: 2015’s Broad Shoulders and 2017’s Restoration of an American Idol. Late last year, he launched his label Tay Bennett Entertainment and signed Shaw as its first artist. They released the single “So High” to mark their union. “What a lot of artists need is a solid foundation,” Bennett told Rolling Stone at the time. “As big as I want my artists to be, I want them to be happy.”