2 Chainz Celebrates Black History Month With Tiny Desk Home Concert

2 Chainz is the latest performer in NPR Music’s special four-week Tiny Desk series to celebrate Black History Month this February. The home concert series, which also includes a line-up of established and emerging artists, will feature home concerts and playlists by Black artists spanning different genres and generations each week. The celebration “highlights the beautiful cornucopia of Black music and our special way of presenting it.”

“There are a lot of people who have been moving the needle forward for Black people. And they have been for some time,” 2 Chainz said in a statement.

Practicing gratitude for the Black leaders that have inspired him, 2 Chainz conveys a moment of sobering euphoria, a drastic shift from the first 17 minutes of the Grammy winner’s flashy Tiny Desk.

The concert shows the musician lounging in his own, high-end nail studio Pamper, receiving a champagne pedicure as he cites Martin Luther King Jr., Tyler Perry, and Puffy as trailblazers who inspired him and the world in a heartfelt sermon.

During the set, the rapper periodically shouts out his sixth and latest studio album, So Help Me God! As well as performing well-known tracks “Good Drank” and “Grey Area”.

Colored in royal hues that range from lavender to violet, 2 Chainz performs his five-song set with an air of relaxed confidence that comes from building himself up as both an artist and businessman.

Since he arrived onto the scene as one half of the Atlanta-based Playaz Circle, 2 Chainz has dominated the charts in both solo ventures and guest verses with the likes of legends such as Nicki Minaj and Kanye West. This latest home concert is a reflective look at the work he’s done and yet to do whilst paying respect to those Black figureheads who inspired him.

Listen to the best of 2 Chainz on Apple Music and Spotify.