Chance The Rapper Illustrates His Journey Through Adulting & the Rap Game on ‘Coloring Book’
Chance The Rapper knows growing up sucks. But for the 23-year-old Chicago rapper who can now toss out an “Auntie Yoncé” on his album intro, hightailing it back to times of Peter Pan-type innocence isn’t really an option, though it’s nice to reminisce. It has taken roughly five years for Chance (born Chancelor Bennett) to get where he is today. From his little-known 2012 mixtape 10 Day to the beloved 2013 ‘tape Acid Rap to the release of last night’s (May 13) long-awaited 14-track giveaway, Coloring Book, Chance has amassed major, if not unprecedented, recognition without a major label debut and presumably enough financial success to make this transition to adulthood a little less stressful.
On his trek to present-day, Chano has appeared on all the late-night talk shows you care about, dropped arguably one of the most standout verses of 2016 on Kanye West’s “Ultralight Beam”––the church revival-ready opener on West’s The Life Of Pablo will have you screaming hallelujahs louder than four-year-old Natalie––and recently became a dad to a baby girl we’ll probably never see until she’s old enough to Snapchat. All things considered, it’s led him to this LP. And when you think of the other MCs in his 2014 XXL Freshman class and struggle rappers scattered around the Internet, Chance’s current position on the musical landscape ain’t too shabby.
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Chance The Rapper Releases Collab-Filled ‘Coloring Book’: Listen
Still, while Chance seems proud of his place, he takes a considerable amount of time focusing on his 79th Street roots and leaning on the word from the sermon. At first listen, Coloring Book is a refreshing sonic maturation of his critically acclaimed mixtape Acid Rap, despite its childlike title. The kid who was crowned Chicago’s Outstanding Youth of the Year in 2014 still drops standout bars over full instrumentation comprised of orchestras, jovial chords and bouncy hip-hop tunes with much more self awareness. The soul that day-one loyalists soaked up on Acid oozes out of C.B. With a new set of coloring utensils (and a loaded feature list), Chano elaborates on the days of Jolly Ranchers and stealing bikes while pressing more heavily on jazz-infused, gospel-sounding optimism with tracks like the LP’s entree, “All We Got,” “Blessings” and “How Great,” tracks that could easily fit Kanye’s current work-in-progress.
Chance also provides sonic diversity while time traveling. Tapping Atlanta’s young kings, Young Thug and Lil’ Yachty, on “Mixtapes,” Chance rides a trap beat while denouncing MCs who call themselves bosses “when they got so many bosses.” Later, he slinks across the guitar-led slow jam, “Juke Jam” as he recalls the days he finally stopped believing in cooties at The Rink, which doubles as his second collab with Justin Bieber and a salute to R. Kelly’s “Feelin’ On Yo Booty.” Not too long after, we find Chano next to rap king-of-the-moment, Future, on “Smoke Break,” a slow-burning, harp-tickling cut produced by up-and-coming Bay Area producer Gerren Langford. Arguably, the highlight of the entire project is “All Night,” an uptempo, boogie-inducing track produced by Kaytranada featuring an artist I admittedly had to Google (hi, Knox Fortune).
Chance The Rapper Taps 2 Chainz & Lil Wayne for ‘No Problem’: Listen
Buried beneath the vivid production are sobering truths about being addicted to Xanax (“Finish Line/Drown”) and the shooting deaths that riddle the streets of Chicago during the high-temp season (“Summer Friends”). At times, he becomes beautifully nostalgic, rapping about simpler, albeit imperfect, times while others, he’s flexing bravado you only acquire from being a respected, wildly cosigned lyricist in the rap game. Perfect example: He wraps a warning shot to record labels in a church bop-inducing beat alongside Lil Wayne and 2 Chainz on “No Problem.” What a time to be Chance The Rapper, the successful independent artist who writes his own rules.
Let’s be real: Chance could one day be carved into the Mount Rushmore of young MCs breathing authentic, new life into the game. Though our playlists are stacked with sonic blessings from a sea of major releases like Kendrick Lamar’s U?ntitled, Unmastered, Beyonce’s magnificently vulnerable opus Lemonade and Rihanna’s appropriately rebellious Anti, Chano’s latest musical offering stands right besides Goliath-sized drops. To be honest, you need well over 24 hours to sit with Coloring Book to consume every drip of its wit, entendres and spirit-lifting samples, but from hot takes on timelines, it’s proof that Chance holds the key to the musical kingdom.
Chance the Rapper Performs New Tune ‘Blessings’ on ‘Tonight Show’: Watch
Altogether, his brand of music pierces the soul. Chance assures us when adulting becomes too hard that spirituality (or some connection to a higher power) and taking stock of times past gives us a healthy dose of “It’s gonna be alright” to carry on. It’s much too early to say it’s a classic, though Twitter will probably deem it so before church on Sunday morning. But if this is only the beginning of Chance’s musical imagination, his greatness will never grow old even as he grows up. As I rummage through my CD collection to find Fred Hammond and RFC’s The Pages Of Life, one thing’s very clear: Chance is doing a good ass job.
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