Taylor Bennett took the stage at Jimmy Kimmel Live to perform his track “Singing the Blues” with the help of collaborator femdot. Backed by American flag imagery on the video screens, Bennett stood behind a presidential podium to unleash the fast-talking, politically-inspired track. “If you a Trump supporter, how you talkin’ to me?” he spits. “How you arguin’ me, tryna bargain with me?/It ain’t my traits to be a traitor.”
In the clip, femdot. gets a matching podium as the pair rap about the state of America today, including the president, race, class and differing political views. Bennett, who is the younger brother of Chance the Rapper, also touches on Chicago specifically, rapping, “Chicago n-ggas dyin’ every day in every way/How you think the guns got in our city?”
“Singing the Blues” comes off the Chicago rapper’s recent EP The American Reject, which dropped in May. It followed last year’s EP Be Yourself, which dealt with similar issues of race and class, as well as the rapper’s bisexuality. Bennett told Rolling Stone that his music is about helping bring people together to face these issues head on.
“Conversation is about spreading education but we miss out on those conversations when we let these systematic oppressions like racism, homophobia or economic oppression take hold,” he said. “We have to communicate. I believe that all these tyrants and bad things in the world are there to stop these conversations. What’s so cool about the project is that it’s B-Y-S, Be Yourself, but it’s really DIY: do it yourself.”
