See Chance the Rapper, Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Tender ‘Dear Theodosia’
Chance the Rapper brought Francis and the Lights and Lin-Manuel Miranda onstage in Chicago to perform the Hamilton song “Dear Theodosia” on Wednesday. Chance the Rapper was headlining the closing ceremony of the inaugural Obama Foundation Summit.
“Dear Theodosia” is a hopeful song about the promise of the next generation – “we’ll give the world to you and you’ll blow us all away” – which presumably made it a good fit for the Obama Foundation Summit. Chance the Rapper echoed and harmonized with Miranda throughout the second verse as Francis and the Lights added a gentle vocoder croon and unobtrusive keyboards in the background. The three singers brought “Dear Theodosia” to a close by interpolating Michael Jackson’s “Man in the Mirror.”
In the original run of Hamilton, Miranda’s Alexander Hamilton and Leslie Odom Jr.’s Aaron Burr addressed “Dear Theodosia” to their young children. The song was popular, the only tune on the musical’s soundtrack to be reinterpreted twice on the star-studded The Hamilton Mixtape. Regina Spektor and Ben Folds recorded one rendition; Chance the Rapper and Francis and the Lights helmed the other.
Chance the Rapper was recruited to help with the Obama Foundation Summit’s creative design, and he performed at the event along with Gloria Estefan and the National. He has worked with Francis and the Lights in the past on “Summer Friends” and the remix of “May I Have This Dance,” where Chance raps about his daughter Kensli.
Later this month, Chance the Rapper will host Saturday Night Live.