Chance The Rapper and Jeremih‘s Merry Christmas Lil’ Mama holiday album is finally coming to streaming services and to hype the anticipation, Chance has released a new song, “The Return.” Produced by Smoko Ono and Beat Butcha, the song features a mellow beat evoking holiday classics of old with a piano and bass combination that leaves plenty of room for Chance to get busy lyrically. “Look, it’s Mister ‘Christmas Bonus,’” he rhymes. “Mister ‘Made His Brothers Bands,’ Mister Nicholas Jonas.” There is some stupendous wordplay here, giving Chance the — ahem — chance to reset the narrative after the lukewarm reception of his last album.
Meanwhile, Merry Christmas Lil’ Mama: The Gift That Keeps On Giving — as the retail version of the album is now called — will apparently feature a tracklist mashed up from both “discs” of the 2017 SoundCloud reissue, Merry Christmas Lil’ Mama: Re-Wrapped. While fan-favorite tracks like “Are U Live” and “Ms. Parker” will come from disc two, “Joy,” “Snowed In,” and “Stranger At The Table” come from disc one. “The Return” and “Who’s To Say” are two new Chance The Rapper tracks which will bookend the compressed runtime.
The retail version of Merry Christmas Lil’ Mama arrives as Chance’s collab partner Jeremih recovers from a stint in the hospital with a bad case of COVID-19. It’s due out this Friday, 12/11. You can pre-save it here.