No Better Blues

Album: Single Release Only (2014)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This satirical song finds Chance the Rapper supposedly listing everything he hates from "carrots, peas, asparagus" to "optimistic smirks on the face of children." The Chicago MC's band, The Social Experiment, supplied the jazzy instrumentation for the track.
  • The song title is most likely a reference to the 1990 Spike Lee film Mo' Better Blues about the life of a fictional jazz trumpeter.
  • Chance penned the song just after he'd released "Wonderful Everyday: Arthur," his rendition of the "Arthur" theme from the PBS cartoon about an aardvark and all his friends. The rapper's cover received a lot of backlash. "Whether it was that they were hating the monotony or repetitiveness of the music they were hearing and trying to put my music in contrast, I dunno," he told Billboard magazine. "I was just wrapped up in this idea that anybody could dislike a song that was positive. And positivity is something that's almost a joke at this point. So I think certain people couldn't really understand it."

    "I was talking with the guys trying to make a song about things that I actually hate, and then it became more of a satirical thing where it was to a point where I was like, 'I'm going to write about things I couldn't possibly hate,'" Chance continued. "At a certain point I realized the best way to write it would be to attack it from a standpoint where it's not necessarily obvious satire."
  • The song is basically Chance poking fun at people hating anything. "There's so much positivity in the world and your day-to-day life that to go as far as to say that you hate something or you wish it didn't exist and all the bad things in the world happen to you and only you, it's a joke," he explained. "It's not real to have that much hate in your heart."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Susanna Hoffs - "Eternal Flame"

Susanna Hoffs - "Eternal Flame"They're Playing My Song

The Prince-penned "Manic Monday" was the first song The Bangles heard coming from a car radio, but "Eternal Flame" is closest to Susanna's heart, perhaps because she sang it in "various states of undress."

Matt Sorum

Matt SorumSongwriter Interviews

When he joined Guns N' Roses in 1990, Matt helped them craft an orchestral sound; his mezzo fortes and pianissimos are all over "November Rain."

Motley Crue

Motley CrueFact or Fiction

Was Dr. Feelgood a dentist? Did the "Crüecifixion" really happen?

Michael Glabicki of Rusted Root

Michael Glabicki of Rusted RootSongwriter Interviews

Michael tells the story of "Send Me On My Way," and explains why some of the words in the song don't have a literal meaning.

Goodbye, Hello: Ten Farewell Tour Fake-Outs

Goodbye, Hello: Ten Farewell Tour Fake-OutsSong Writing

The 10 biggest "retirement tours" that didn't take.

Jesus In Pop Hits: The Gospel Songs That Went Mainstream

Jesus In Pop Hits: The Gospel Songs That Went MainstreamSong Writing

These overtly religious songs crossed over to the pop charts, despite resistance from fans, and in many cases, churches.