Chance the Rapper is becoming a household name. He has developed his own style, sound and name. After calling himself Kanye’s greatest “protégé,” it’s obvious that Chance is embracing the spotlight. However, Chance is soaking up this attention in a dramatically different fashion than any artist has before. You see, Chance makes great music. And he does it for free.
Last winter, Chance teamed up with Warmest Winter to raise money that would be used to create winter coats that also doubled as sleeping bags. The duo eventually raised $100,000 which translated to 1,000 of these coats, saving an estimated 14 lives. The workers hired to make these coats? Also homeless Chicagoans.
In early April, Chance was able to take his own brand “Sox” and actually infuse his own design into the official Chicago White Sox baseball cap. These hats can be purchased on the teams own website so yes, this is as real as it gets. Chance is known to rock the official White Sox cap, but now he has his own. In every sense of the idea, Chance is holding Chicago down.
As I mentioned before, Chance has close relations to Kanye. Kanye, also being from Chicago has taken Chance under his wing. Not that he needs it, but an icon as big as Kanye West can do nothing but help expose your music, ideas and message. When Kanye dropped his album "The Life of Pablo," he claimed it was gospel music. And, to be fair, some of it really was, none more so than the opening song, Ultralight Beam. The opening song was performed on Saturday Night Live before the album officially dropped and the performance was perfect. What made the performance so great? Chance the Rapper made the performance great. If you can steal the spotlight from Kanye West, you are doing something special.
On May 12, 2016 Chance the Rapper released his highly anticipated third mixtape titled "Coloring Book." The mixtape features an abundance of well-known artists such as Kanye, but a few didn’t make the cut because of the fact Chance is an independent artist. When other artists were requested to be involved, their labels refused to interact with Chance. Obviously, this doesn’t get to him. The mixtape landed in the number eight spot on Billboard’s chart, the first streaming-exclusive album to ever accomplish such a feat. The music picked up where his last two mix tapes left off, as Chance truly “elevated” himself above the music game. (See mixtape cover)
From his first mixtape titled "10 Day," Chance has released music that redefines what is considered hip-hop. Evident on the track named "Nostalgia," Chance developed his voice and message, that he wasn’t your typical rapper. This idea was continued on his next tape, "Acid Rap." On the track "Coca Butter Kisses," Chance reminisces on being a child, talking about his mother and grandmother. Then, on his latest mixtape "Coloring Book," Chance remains the same independent artist. Midway through the tape, the song "Blessings" sits. Chance performed this song live before the tape actually dropped and it’s the closest thing to gospel you may ever hear on a hip-hop album.
If you haven’t listened to Chance, I recommend doing so even if you don’t love hip-hop like myself and so many others. You see, he is a hip-hop artist, but he is the first of his kind. Chance is the best thing to happen to the hip-hop genre in a long, long time. His persona and message is changing how people view the genre. His generosity is passing along a sense of positivity and urgency to do good in the community. Simply put, he’s not in it for the money or materialistic lifestyle. Chance is truly a blessing to the music industry, somebody we should be thankful to have. He’s 22 and just getting started, but what Chance accomplishes over a beat will be towered by the good he does for Chicago and the rest of America.
