The young Chicago star Polo G is a master of depressive melodic rap music, and he’s been on a major career upswing lately. After making one of the best rap albums of 2020 with his platinum debut Die A Legend, Polo came out with the sophomore LP THE GOAT earlier this year. It’s already gold, and Polo might be the biggest star among this year’s XXL Freshman class. Today, he’s come out with a new standalone single called “Epidemic,” and it’s a good one.

“Epidemic” has nothing to do with COVID-19. Instead, Polo sing-raps sadly about romantic travails and street tensions over a pretty, piano-based beat from producers Karltin Bankz, LondnBlue, Dmac and Tahj Money. (I don’t know why a song this spare needed four producers, but that’s what happened.) Polo manages to sound both graceful and full of despair: “I’m so sick of farewells and RIPs.”

“Epidemic” has a video from regular Polo G collaborator Ryan Lynch, and it finds Polo and friends spending time on boats and ATVs. It doesn’t look like the video for a sad song, but Polo has the presence to pull it off. Check it out below.

Also, if you like Polo G, you should really hear him going nuts on fellow young Chicago rapper BigKayBeezy’s recent track “Backpack 2.0.” Here’s that video: