WATCH: Jamila Woods and Chance the Rapper Showcase Beauty of Windy City in ‘LSD’ Video

By Sameer Rao Aug 15, 2017

Back in May, Jamila Woods and Chance the Rapper called on Chicago Public Schools (CPS) students to show their hometown pride by submitting video treatments for “LSD," their Windy City-loving track from Woods’ 2016 album, "Heavn." Woods released that song’s blissed-out music video today (August 15). 

The "LSD" video (above) mixes scenes of Woods and Chance at a relaxed backyard BBQ, populated almost entirely by brightly-dressed friends and kids of color, with others of local residents dancing and enjoying the sunny day. One clip showcases Black men and boys performing "footwork," a fast-paced dance style central to the city’s house-derived electronic music scene.

"LSD" takes its name from the Lake Shore Drive expressway, which runs along Chicago’s coast. The video additionally features Woods in Lake Michigan and a kiddie pool, singing lyrics that rebuke frequent outsider criticism of the city: 

To the coast, I prefer it to most
I like water that don’t burn my eyes when they open
I won’t let you criticize
My city like my skin, it’s so pretty
If you don’t like it, just leave it alone

Woods also released a behind-the-scenes video above that introduces viewers to the CPS students whose treatment submissions won them the opportunity to shadow directors Vincent Martell and Sam Bailey and other production staff. 

"I was thinking about how, in my life, how my family has been involved in gang life and stuff," CPS senior Ashley Huicochea says about her winning treatment in the behind-the-scenes video. "A lot of times, when we were brought together in cookouts or just together as a family, that was our moment of serenity. That was our moment where we forgot what people look at us as, and how most of the time, that’s our reality—gun violence, violence in general. I thought that would be a perfect idea for the music video: showing how there’s a lot more to the city than what the general masses say about us. "

Watch the "LSD" video and behind-the-scenes explainer above. 

(H/t The Guardian)