"Bad Idea" is a song by American rapper

YBN Cordae Cordae Amari Dunston (born August 26, 1997) known mononymously as Cordae (formerly YBN Cordae and Entendre), is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. He gained popularity by releasing remixes of popular songs, such as "My Name Is" by Eminem ...

, released on June 17, 2019 as the second single from his debut studio album '' The Lost Boy'' (2019). It features American rapper

Chance the Rapper Chancelor Johnathan Bennett (born April 16, 1993), known professionally as Chance the Rapper, is an American rapper, singer-songwriter, and record producer. Born and raised in Chicago, Bennett released his debut mixtape '' 10 Day'' in 2012. He ...

and was produced by

BongoByTheWay Uforo Imeh Ebong (born 1989), known professionally as Bongo ByTheWay (formerly Bongo the Drum Gahd) is a Nigerian record producer, best known for producing songs for Kanye West, The Game, Lecrae, and Teyana Taylor, among others. Originally workin ...

, with co-production from Kid Culture. The song contains a sample of "Home Is Where the Hatred Is" by

Gil Scott-Heron Gilbert Scott-Heron (April 1, 1949 – May 27, 2011) was an American Jazz poetry, jazz poet, singer, musician, and author, known primarily for his work as a spoken-word performer in the 1970s and 1980s. His collaborative efforts with musician ...

. The song was nominated for the

Grammy Award for Best Rap Song The Grammy Award for Best Rap Song is an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality songs in the rap music genre. Honors in several ...

in 2020.

Background and composition

YBN Cordae premiered the song on

Beats 1 Apple Music 1, previously branded as Beats 1, is a 24/7 music radio station owned and operated by Apple Inc. It is accessible through iTunes or the Apple Music app on a computer, smartphone or tablet, smart speaker (such as the Apple HomePod), ...

, during an interview with

Zane Lowe Alexander Zane Reid Lowe (born 7 August 1973) is a New Zealand radio DJ, live DJ, record producer, and television presenter. After an early career in music creation, production and DJing, he moved to the UK in 1997. He came to prominence thro ...

in which he explained how the song came about. Cordae stated he met Chance the Rapper at

Coachella Coachella may refer to: * Coachella, California * Coachella Canal, in California * Coachella (festival), an annual music and arts festival in California * "Coachella – Woodstock in My Mind", a 2017 song by Lana del Rey See also

* Coachell ...

, where they agreed to work on the song, and that he flew to

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

to complete it. Moreover, he discussed the meaning behind the song:

The opening lines to the song is, "I know myself far too well to be a stranger of pain." I freestyled that line. That's like immediately what I thought of when I heard that beat. Meaning like, you know, "I know what I've been through. Everything that I've witnessed, everything that I've been to to icact like I don't know myself." And that's really essentially what the song is about. It has like good home vibes, good summer vibes, like good nostalgic feeling to it. But like, not in a forceful way, cause I feel like now everybody's bringing back the nostalgic way, but in a force, you know what I'm saying? Like, it got to come natural. You know what I'm saying? This one feels real natural.

Lyrically, Cordae and Chance rap about the ups and downs of life, both ultimately deciding they are in a good state. The song also features additional vocals from singers

Sir ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as p ...

and

Ant Clemons Anthony Clemons Jr. (born September 26, 1991) is an American singer. He rose to prominence as a guest artist on Kanye West's 2018 single " All Mine". Clemons has since worked with a multitude of artists, including West, Ty Dolla Sign, Beyoncé, ...

Music video

The music video was released alongside the single. In it, YBN Cordae reflects on his life after a long day of manual labor, and enjoys a family barbecue in the backyard with Chance the Rapper.

Charts

References

{{Chance the Rapper 2019 singles 2019 songs Cordae songs Chance the Rapper songs Songs written by Chance the Rapper Atlantic Records singles Music videos directed by Cole Bennett