Ric Wilson has evolved since his days as a local Chicago act as he bounced through 2016's introductory projects The Sun is Out and Soul Bounce. Birthed from Young Chicago Authors, the same organization that helped mold the careers of Chance the Rapper, Vic Mensa, Saba, and Noname, Wilson is returning with a new EP, BANBA on May 18. “When I dropped out of college to do music, I caught myself trying to explain the music I do in a different light than what it really was because I was scared of other people's perception of my 'rap music,' Wilson says. "I feel like people don't appreciate rap as an actual art form, which is insane because there's an art to rhyming, every beat is a colorful canvas and every lyric and rhyme is a stroke of mine."Distorted synths are the backdrop of "Split," as Wilson colors his world with images of mild sauce on his chicken wings, a staple in Chicago cuisine. "Stuck between caring too much and giving up / Victim of tweeting, but not reading enough," the 22-year-old raps, with an inflection in his voice similar to Portland's Aminé. The hook is riddled with the hesitation of staying committed or fleeing, which comes full circle when he admits later in the song that he's "victim to right love at the wrong time." "I wrote 'Split' in the middle of a relationship that was going south," he says. "The song is about how sometimes, the best decisions you'll make in life are the ugliest and hardest, but the healthiest for you."Kristin Corry is a staff writer at Noisey. Follow her on Twitter.
