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PREMIERE: Chicago Rapper Ibn Inglor Fights Back Depression with "Pray for Health"

"Have you ever tried to save someone that couldn't save themselves?"

You might not have heard from Chicago rapper Ibn Inglor for a little while, but it's for good reason, and he's got a new album coming called Honegloria that gets at why. There's palpable darkness hanging around the album's new single "Pray for Health," a collaboration with Ohio rapper Mathaius Young and close friend and producer Arran premiered below. ("I got demons, I need Jesus.")

The story behind the song and Inglor's absence is heavy: "I've worked through a bad state of deep depression," he said recently via email. "Last year I had no motivation to release anything. Everything I created sounded good that day and horrible the next. I completely scrapped three whole projects before getting to the one I'm at now. I've never dealt with depression before, so when it hit me, it hit hard. I didn't really know what to do or how to handle it or get over it."

A chance run-in with fans he didn't realize he'd inspired would help him turn a corner. "I'm like, me? You want a picture with me? After that my confidence was somewhat restored and I started realizing that I have this talent for a reason." He's funneling his experiences in overcoming depression into the new music. "Honegloria is me at my most vulnerable, being an up-and-coming artist. It's a reflection of what I've gone though and what I'm still going through. I'm not really aiming to please any certain ear, I'm aiming to tell you guys my story and what I've been though this past year."

"Pray for Health" is the latest installment in the journey, a bleak flail for solace in trying, unsure times matched to an army of blustery but coolly hooky synths. "We wanted our first drop in 2016 to be something great, and progressive," Inglor says of the new single. "We feel like we've progressed so much musically from previous tapes and were hella excited for people to hear it. Stream "Pray for Health" below.

Craig… knows the feeling. Follow him on Twitter.