Jamila Woods and Peter CottonTale are two of Chicago hip-hop’s most illustrious minds. Woods is a noted singer, poet, and activist whose 2019 album LEGACY! LEGACY! paid tribute to Black luminaries and rightfully cracked the top 25 of our Uproxx Music Critic’s Poll that year. CottonTale came up as a core producer for the breakthrough material of Chance The Rapper, Vic Mensa, and Woods, and has recently claimed credits with the likes of DJ Khaled and Justin Bieber.
Now the the pair have joined forces for the latest single “WYD (You Got Me)” and it manages to preserve the feeling of summer sunshine as winter starts to creep in. There’s a childlike melody to the tune, reminiscent of the innocence of summer cookouts and spending time with friends and family. There’s autotune vocals sprinkled throughout from both, but Woods’ voice is as sweet as peach pie. The hook is definitely something we’ll be repeating as she sings: “Good evenin’, I called you. I hope you will see that. So hit me as soon as you see this. I’ll be there in times when you need me… to be there, someone you can lean on. When I see ya. If it’s something you needed, believe me. If got it. If you got it. You got me.”
The song is part of the new film Summertime. Directed by Blindspotting‘s Carlos López Estrada, it weaves the tale of 27 different youth spoken poets throughout the streets of Los Angeles.
Watch the video for “WYD (You Got Me)” above and watch the very cool trailer for Summertime below.