Going Behind The Scenes Of Chance The Rapper And Jamila Woods’ New Video

Artists Chance the Rapper and Jamila Woods go hard for their city, weaving imagery of Chicago through their songs and art—and they’re not breaking from that tradition with the video for “LSD.”

Back in May, Chance tweeted that he and Woods were looking for students in the Chicago public school system to help out with creating the project along with Jagjaguwar, Closed Sessions, and VAM Studio. The final project is the brainchild of student Ashley Huicochea and is, as Woods describes, “like a play of tripping off the happiness of being in summertime Chicago.” And as director Sam Bailey (who also directed Woods’ video for “Holy”) adds, it shows the city “in its regalness, but it’s cool hipness as well.”

In addition to Huicochea, six additional students were chosen to shadow in departments from wardrobe and art direction to advertising and camera work. Vincent Martell, founder of VAM and producer and art director of "Holy," told us over email how important it is for him to give back to his community and provide support for students who, otherwise, are overlooked. “Many students and young artists in Chicago just need basic access to opportunities in order to succeed, and, sadly, the city and government are failing at providing that,” he says. “For me, this project was a way to show the production industry how easy it is to create real change in the lives of aspiring filmmakers in the city… All it takes is a foot in the door, but we need someone to open it first.”

Hear more from Martell, Bailey, Woods, Chance, and the CPS students in the behind-the-scenes video, above, and, when you’re done, watch the video for “LSD,” below.