From 'Acid Rap' To Coloring Book - The Rise of Chance The Rapper

“Chance the Rapper’ is many things. I’m constantly evolving.” – Chance the Rapper

Just over three short years removed since Chancelor “Chance the Rapper” Bennett dropped his breakthrough mix-tape, Acid Rap, and the West Chatham neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois, wordsmith has been on a continual meteoric rise. While he released his debut mixtape 10 Day in 2012, it was Acid Rap that cemented him as a star.

In 2014, “Chano” earned himself a well deserved coveted slot in XXL Magazine’s annual freshman class issue. In January ’15 he was listed #7 on the ‘Forbes 30 Under 30’ music list. He wrapped the year by performing on Saturday Night Live in December.

So far in 2016, Chance co-wrote and appeared on Kanye West’s The Life of Pablo LP on the track “Ultralight Beam,” as well as co-writing “Father Stretch My Hands Pt. 1,” “Famous,” “Feedback” and “Waves”. Chance also assisted Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’ “Need To Know” from the duo’s latest, This Unruly Mess I’ve Made, and got down alongside Skrillex on Hundred Waters’ “Show Me Love” remix.

If all of that wasn’t enough, his third mixtape, Coloring Book (previously known as Chance 3), the follow-up to last year’s Surf (Donnie Trumpet & The Social Experiment album), came out just this past May and has already been met with “universal acclaim.” These are definitely major feats from an otherwise truly independent artist.

Coloring Book contains 14 stellar tracks and sports high profile appearances courtesy of Kanye West & Chicago Children’s Choir [“All We Got”], Lil Wayne & 2 Chainz [“No Problem”], Jeremih & Francis and the Lights [“Summer Friends”], Young Thug & Lil Yachty [“Mixtape”], Saba [“Angels”], Justin Bieber & Towkio [“Juke Jam”], Jay Electronica & My cousin Nicole [“How Great”], Future [“Smoke Break”], T-Pain, Kirk Franklin, Eryn Allen Kane & Noname [“Finish Line / Drown”] and Ty Dolla $ign [“Blessings (Reprise)”].

Kris Ex, of Pitchfork Media, awarded Coloring Book with “Best New Music” and wrote, “Chance the Rapper’s Coloring Book is one of the strongest rap albums released this year, an uplifting mix of spiritual and grounded that even an atheist can catch the Spirit to.” In the United States alone, Coloring Book debuted at number 8 on the Billboard 200, with 38,000 equivalent album units. The mixtape generated 57.3 million streams in the first week, making it the first release to chart on the Billboard 200, solely from the streams. There is even an entire coloring book inspired by the songs and lyrics on Chance’s latest. There are 14 pages in all; one for each song on the project.

The 23 year old father of an infant daughter named Kinsley, and who names everyone from Yeezy, Lupe Fiasco, Common, Eminem, Souls of Mischief, Esham and Freestyle Fellowship to James Brown, MC Hammer, Prince [RIP] and, especially Kirk Franklin, as his strongest influences, is a community activist who strongly advocates against gun violence in and around his hometown – dubbed Chiraq – largely due to its violent history and crime rates as being one of America’s most dangerous cities. “I don’t know where people think I’m from, but I’m from Chicago. It’s really just that. People wanna romanticize it and say, ‘There’s two sides to it, and it’s a beautiful love/hate story of violence and music.’ But it’s really just a very scummy place where people don’t have respect for other people’s lives.”

Get The Music – More from Chance The Rapper here:
Chance The Rapper Coloring Book mixtape download

Chance The Rapper Acid Rap mixtape download

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