Breaking Down the Lyrics of Chance the Rapper’s New Single “Buried Alive”

The Voice coach gave us an intimate look into his personal life with his poetic lyrics.

Chance the Rapper is back with a new single.

Watch The Voice Mondays and Tuesdays at 8/7c on NBC and next day on Peacock.

On April 24, The Voice coach dropped the track “Buried Alive,” his first project since his 2019 album The Big Day.

“Buried Alive” comes with Motown-inspired strings and gospel backup vocals while the passion in Chance’s voice builds in intensity through the song.

Two days later, he released a music and lyric video for “Buried Alive,” which depicts him breaking himself out of a crate that happens to be on a spaceship.

What Chance the Rapper’s new song “Buried Alive” means

The intricate lyrics to “Buried Alive” depict how Chance has been emotionally processing events in his personal life as he addresses his critics. He even touched on his recent divorce announcement and career arch, while weaving in Bible references, a common practice in his music to celebrate his Christian faith. Some of the track’s most talked about lines are:

“The boy who lived got tied up for marryin’/ Tryna ride off into the sunset with nary goodbye/ Shot him off his high horse, ate his American pie,” and “Where’s his money now? Whеre his wife at? / Wherе his manager? Where his hype at? Then they threw the dirt in the casket and into the hunt for the baby in the basket”.

“Buried Alive” is a possible track on Chance the Rapper’s upcoming mixtape titled Star Line.

When discussing the meaning behind the title of his second album, Star Line Gallery, in 2022 he explained on Sway in the Morning the deeper meaning behind “Star Line”.

“I was inspired by Marcus Garvey in the early 1900s, 1919 through actually 1922, so 100 years ago now,” he explained. “He started and ran this very important, integral shipping line. He had a fleet of ships, these giant ocean liners which are the size of cruise ships, that he owned and funded with common Black folks’ money.”

He continued, “When I think about the Black Star Line and all the spaces that it’s been in, the Black Star is the representation of Ghana, in their flag, in the fabric of how their country was set up. They believe in global Blackness, Black connectivity and a free Africa.”

Chance The Rapper appears in The Voice Season 25 Episode 9. Photo: Trae Patton/NBC
The lyrics to “Buried Alive” by Chance the Rapper

I was in a dark space, between a rock and a hard place
Knew I was alive when my heart raced
Buried alive, but very alive
They’d be very surprised to find out Harry survived
The boy who lived got tied up for marryin’
Tryna ride off into the sunset with nary goodbye
Shot him off his high horse, ate his American pie
Called out his arrogant lies, tossed him in a hole
The middle of nowhere you never could find
Where’s his money now? Wherе his wife at?
Where his managеr? Where his hype at?
Then they threw the dirt on the casket
And into the hunt for the baby and the basket
Nobody Moses, alone with the mallet
That’s when the pen turned the stone to a tablet
Jailbreak stylus, I chiseled like Shawshank
I fought for my life, Ray Gibson, Claude Banks
My ideas turn a cage into shark tank
Tears over war paint, gotta give the Lord “Thanks”
Walkin’ through the desert, same mighty sword
Not yet tired, but I might be sore
I was in a dark space
My mind was playin’ tricks like Scarface
My pen strong like an one-inch punch
I eat all they cornbread, they don’t want they lunch
I was in a dark place, it was me and my pen
None of my friends, none of my kin
None of my weapons, one of my limbs
One of my arms, I made a beat with my elbow first
Then my fist started knockin’ like the bell don’t work
In my palm was the pen from that one fable
The old legendary story of the lunch table
Then I kicked a technique that was so fatal
It went fall down Babylon, Jericho Dagon
Melt every wall in the dungeon dragon
We was in a dark place, now the lights back on
I just needed, I just needed somethin’ I could rap on
Right then and there the roof caved, quick rubble stone
The kid kicked another hole, the dirt filled another hole
The pen in the hand of a hero arose
Clenched fist clawin’ its way out, the highs and the lows