On the cusp of becoming a household name, Chance The Rapper has glided towards stardom almost exclusively from an online buzz that’s just begun gaining real world traction. Going against the grain naturally, his nearly mystic rise hasn’t relied on typical career boosting crutches: Chance’s songs have generally been devoid of Auto-Tune and absent from radio rotation or nightclubs, he’s never inspired a trendy dance craze, yet he’s amassed a loyal following determined to see these differences bear fruit. Arguably the face of Chicago Hip Hop’s present momentum, his impact has given voice to a conflicted generation whose psyche is at war; adolescents and young adults influenced by Kanye West’s ingenious innovation with a bleak firsthand view of the low life expectancy Chief Keef popularized.
Since starting to rap professionally while fresh out of puberty, Chance The Rapper has become an open book unafraid to deal with his growing pains publicly. A most humble and charitable figure for the Windy City, if comparisons to Kendrick Lamar aren’t inevitable, they’re readily abundant. Two sides of the same coin using their voices in tandem with live instrumentation, the rageful angst from Compton’s “good kid” is the yin to the yang of Chance’s lighter and more subdued panic. Another commonality arises as they’ve both pushed the envelope creatively to explain the pressures of their gang-ridden environments without begging for acceptance from greater society. On a more rebellious note, the pair have managed to fit in while wedging personal responsibility in a youth driven culture that leans towards shirking progression.
Making thematic cover art for each release, 10 Day represented Chance The Rapper’s cautious and hopeful beginnings, Acid Rap could be interpreted as fear in the face of the storm, and Coloring Book is a clever smile of contentment. Foreshadowed by The Life Of Pablo’s “Ultralight Beam,” the bulk of the project celebrates his faith and how far it’s quickly brought him up the rap game’s ladder. Early previews came by way of “Blessings” premiering on Jimmy Fallon’s stage recently and “Angels” being done on Stephen Colbert’s show last year. The two unabashedly Christian songs respectively explain his grassroots approach of giving away music, as he says “I don’t make songs for free, I make ‘em for freedom” and “I’m still at my old church, only ever sold merch.” Album opener “All We Got” is a triumphant praise session where Chance modestly flexes his good fortune including being a new father. With the aid of frequent bandmate Donnie Trumpet, he employs a Sunday morning preacher’s style of building up to an explosive outburst, as Kanye and the Chicago Children’s Choir bring things full circle from the protégé’s greatest exposure to date just three months ago.
Acid Rap was Chance The Rapper’s instantaneous breakthrough with features including Ab-Soul, Childish Gambino and Action Bronson, rising peers who were in sync with his left-field niche. Coloring Book attempts reinventing the wheel not only with a heavier emphasis on God, but our protagonist taking noticeable risks walking amongst Hip Hop’s supposed sinners much like Jesus did. Upon a first listen, “No Problem” is off-putting given Chance’s awkward flow most reminiscent of Young Thug’s widely debated spontaneity (not to mention a flashy appearance by 2 Chainz and Lil Wayne’s standard codeine-addled lack of substance). The song grows to be catchy upon multiple spins, but this effect isn’t replicated as linguistic acrobat Young Thugger himself and quirky newcomer Lil Yachty contribute little worth to “Mixtape,” one of Coloring Book’s dullest moments. A surprising highlight comes by way of trap rhythm meeting heavenly melodies on the smooth yet rousing “Smoke Break”, where Future’s performance sounds almost palatable as opposed to his well renowned erratic means of turning up. This curveball is indicative of Chance’s capacity to shape the culture at his will, whether he plays these reindeer games to bridge gaps for the genre or simply capitalize on his growing fame.
Refusing to be boxed into preconceived notions, Chance The Rapper is not only adjusting the paradigm for independent business, his presence has the potential to save the minds and lives of endangered Chicagoans. A sequel of sorts to last year’s less memorable compilation Surf (namely its single “Sunday Candy”), Coloring Book further reflects his liberty to create as he pleases. “Finish Line/Drown” admits to a prior harmful Xanax addiction as Chance sprints towards salvation. After this confessional the two-parter transitions from Hip Hop completely into gospel, as devout holy roller Kirk Franklin takes the baton from him to pray on wax together for a second time in 2016.
As a mix of the secular and spiritual worlds, Coloring Book is sure to perplex Chance The Rapper’s fickle fans and satisfy the more adventurous open to being thrown for a loop. Rather than cheap ploys to cross over, the questionable collaborations are more likely calculated concessions with the intent of sneaking his evangelical message to a greater audience. After the communion cup runs empty, Chance proves himself worthy of hero worship by subtly and subversively overthrowing the commercialized horrors of his town’s violent drill movement.
amazing album
5/5 HE PUT ON THE CITY
This album is straight good music for my soul. I can finally say that one of my favorite rapper is a christian rapper.
ok, i was wondering, should i give it a try and listen but since you mentioning christian i confused. Is his lyrics religious, can you elaborate, please?
Well its gospel themed, but it is still the Chance we know from the past year or so. Its less rap and more sing songy, but its still dope. I don’t think its as polarizing as ‘Acid Rap’ was, but its still a great album. He makes allusions to God and there are parts where it can be considered a very Christian album, but it is light years better than any other album in the Christian hip hop genre.
Well its gospel themed, but it is still the Chance we know from the past year or so. Its less rap and more sing songy, but its still dope. I don’t think its as polarizing as ‘Acid Rap’ was, but its still a great album. He makes allusions to God and there are parts where it can be considered a very Christian album, but it is light years better than any other album in the Christian hip hop genre.
Not perfect but still a masterpiece: 4.5/5
simply amazing
I can’t lie I was hoping for more acid rap and 10 day style songs but this was a great project on its own. It shows chance can experiment and still be dope. Here’s hoping his next project isn’t three years from now again .
AOTY SO FAR
How dare you disrespect drake like that. This bum ass try hard weird nikka aint shi. Drake should have gotten a 5 you hhdx writers lost all credibility with this review. Without drake bums like this guy wouldn’t have a carreer.
It is growing on me, but damn, this project has some horrible hooks.
Drake deserved the 5, Views is album of the year.
#drakeislovedrakeislife
Amazingly beautiful piece of work
it didnt let me vote this album a 1, the site is rigged. HIPHOPDX STAFF STAY DELETING POSTS! THE STRUGGLE IS REAL!
No self respecting music fan could give this album a 1. Chance and Kendrick are levels and levels above everyone else in the rap game right now.
No self respecting music fan could give this album a 1. Chance and Kendrick are levels and levels above everyone else in the rap game right now.
Very cohesive
Litterally the best album out this year, blows views out of the water
So it’s Christian rap.. I’ll pass.
That’s what’s wrong with this world. I guess ignorance isn’t always bliss because this is the album of the year and you’re missing out on pure dopeness.
wow, no way this project gets more than 2.5. different doesnt always mean better. this one IS different, and didnt work that well. he must have very influential people in his camp, thats just how it is… ps: i liked acid rap
1 is too much for this trash.
FUCK HIPHOPDX! Y’ALL FUCKING PREVENT EVERY COMMENT WITH “YOU KISS YOUR MOTHER WITH THAT MOUTH?” ON EVERY FUCKING THING THAT I POST WITHOUT ONE SINGLE EXPLETIVE OR RACIAL SLANDER WHATSOEVER?@ WTF IS UP WITH YOUR CRITERIA?! BUT THIS’LL POST? MAKES NO FUCKING SENSE?!
CHANCE IS WACK!
This is a “2016 College Dropout” knockoff! The hype machine is real on here. This 2.5/5 at best.
Chance is dope, excellent rapper, but I’m not feelin this album, I’m starting to notice the trend, with these over hyped albums, 2016 is a over hyped album trend. It started with the the life of Pablo
If you don’t like this album you hate hip hop and good music. GTFOH
Why am I supposed to like this
Shit wack nigga face it
TLOP was utter rubbish
Chance the Rapper is extremely overrated by hip hop blogs. My guess is he buys them off….. HHDX probably not gonna let me post this comment. Freedom of speech bitches!!!!!
overrated hot garbage
Gotta love the same dude who keeps talking about Views and how much he wants to make out with Aubrey. Nothing against Drake, but he had one of the most predictable albums of the year, in terms of what he did with the music. No growth, nothing new. Chance, on the other hand, just delivered a soulful masterpiece of pure, unfettered vibes and deeply positive ideas. Chance, Kendrick, and Beast Coast are the future of this genre. Major labels are on the cusp of death. Small, artist-run labels are going to be the norm in 10-15 years. G.O.O.D. Music was only the beginning my friends. To quote your bestie, @drakerunsrap, “What a time to be alive!”
LOL ur a joke. Reading that paragraph was mind numbing. Obviously written by a Chance fan. Chance buys good production, buys good reviews, but CANNOT RAP AT ALL. Any real hip hop head knows that. foh.
LOL ur a joke. Reading that paragraph was mind numbing. Obviously written by a Chance fan. Chance buys good production, buys good reviews, but CANNOT RAP AT ALL. Any real hip hop head knows that. foh.
LOL ur a joke. Reading that paragraph was mind numbing. Obviously written by a Chance fan. Chance buys good production, buys good reviews, but CANNOT RAP AT ALL. Any real hip hop head knows that. foh.
chance has down syndrome
This is by far the best offerings from Chance, one of the only few master pieces in 2016 as yet.
This guy bit Drake and Game. Jesus Piece was a religious themed album. Drake and Game are the only real niggas left in hip-hop-
This is by far way worse then Views…Drake deserves the 5!!!!!!!
Get off Drakes dick big fella.
I thought it was dope. Very Good album
This is a great project! the vibe is just something amazing. Kudos 2 chance! 5/5
If he’s a Christian, why should he not speak about it? Let him be real to who he is.
Really disappointed I dont think i Iike this new sound of his
I wanted more songs Iike spaceship by Alex wiley and chance
Better than those other overhyped albums
It was okay
A boring piece of crap, if you ask me. Noone asked, but you know. Internet.
I had already rated this, and I came to see how many hated on me for my view. Yesterday I had listened to 2 tracks and it was just awful. So later on I found track 3 ok. then I skipped through a few tracks and listened to some random ones and they are just awful. I get what he is trying to do. But this is not for me. He is annoying as hell. He has the odd clever line. But that is it. I’ll probably play a couple more tracks on my day off work, because I wanna like it. I want to be one of the cool kids who like Chance. But it’s real hard.
You echoing my sentiments exactly. Its like i wanna root for the guy but like you I tried to listen to it and I just couldn’t get past the 2nd track. I tried skipping, still ain’t work. I want the first track of an album to grab me and make me want more. This ain’t it.
You echoing my sentiments exactly. Its like i wanna root for the guy but like you I tried to listen to it and I just couldn’t get past the 2nd track. I tried skipping, still ain’t work. I want the first track of an album to grab me and make me want more. This ain’t it.
I loved the vibe to this, very soulful and gospel. This album was different yet worked and chance gave every line meaning like he said he would in ultralight beams. Production is great and is very cohesive.
Drake needed 5/5, views is illmatic classic!!!!!!!!
This is good. Chance is that guy in hip-hop. I think he is next in line to be a great. Screw all the hype. Lets not depend on articles from Rolling Stone. Maybe you didn’t like this album bu there is no denying his vision. An independant artist collaborating with cats like Future & Young Thug and Kanye.
Remember hearing Chance on Radsody’s She’s Got Game and I thought this guys got some flow. Then I got Acid Rap a few years back and I thought that was AWESOME. This project is near flawless, the production is stellar and the use of the Chicago Children’s Choir and Brass Tracks and overall church feeling compliments his rap style. When Kanye said TLOP was a church album I expected something like this. Great work Chance//
Man Half this album was so good… and the other half was trash. Honestly there are only four or five decent songs and the rest are trash. Kinda sad to think this is the same guy who did acid rap and 10 Day.
One of my favorite albums. I love the way he mixed that gospel sound in this album compared to ‘Acid Rap’. It’s just a shame that everyone else is listening to some wack artists and not the real ones like Chance, no shade. But props to Chance The Rapper for an amazing album, should be 1st on the charts but i don’t know.
great album, I enjoyed acid rap a tad bit more but all in all it’s a marvelous albulm
I loved “Acid Rap”, but I think he made a mistake when he focused on “Surf”. He dropped a wack album with his band, and now it sounds like a follow-up to THAT stuff, and not his solo career. Everything I heard on this album I feel like I’ve heard it before from the gospel singing to the boring guest artists. Chance was a favorite of mine in 2013 and now I just say “meh” when I see him.
Next to Kanye one of the best album of the year!!! ????????????????????????????????????????
Booooooooooorrrring album. I tried to like it. I gave it 3 full length listens. There wasn’t one memorable song or bar on this shit.
P.S. Views is wack as fuck too.
I’m totally cosigning you on this one. Like totally
I’m totally cosigning you on this one. Like totally
ok album
Great Album with some good content
way overrated.
How is this the top rated album of 2016? SMFH