Watch Mykele Deville’s “Type Love” Video

Chicago-based rapper Mykele Deville has shared “Type Love,” the lead single off his forthcoming album Maintain, out Feb. 22, 2019, on No Trend.

On “Type Love,” the West Side-native Deville sings about self-worth and self-love in a time of crushing cruelty and hateful rhetoric. “Self worth / I wish I could have learned it first,” he raps. He shares the mic with Daryn Alexus, who provides the chorus with an achingly tender siren call, praising the type of love that lets you support yourself.

The video, directed by Mckenzie Chinn and Greg Dixon, and shot by Hannah Welever, puts the recognizable skyscrapers of Chicago way in the background, foregrounding both the neighborhoods that make up the majority of the city and Deville himself, who moves around the rooftop with Chicago-based dance artist Po’chop. Chinn uses the contrast of masculine and feminine to highlight the song’s central message. “I wanted to highlight the song’s idea of honoring self as well as the struggle of understanding self as a thing worthy of one’s own love,” says Chinn. “By using imagery and improvised choreography outside of a traditional narrative, we were able to create a dynamic and expressionistic portrait of black, masculine tenderness and softness.”

Deville will be celebrating the release of Maintain with a show at Chicago’s Lincoln Hall on March 3, 2019.

Watch the “Type Love” video below, and find the Maintain album art and tracklist further down.

Maintain Album Art:

Maintain Tracklist:
01. Whispers
02. Free Soul
03. Type Love (feat. Daryn Alexus)
04. Kalief
05. You’re Enough
06. Loosies + Poem For Us (feat. McKenzie Chinn)
07. Maintain