Before I actually sat down to listen to "Coloring Book," the new mixtape from rising Chicago talent Chance The Rapper, I decided to do something out of character and read a handful of reviews and see what other people thought about it.
I did this in part because I had a hard time deciding what to review this week given the last month’s much-anticipated release schedule, including new LPs by Drake, The Hotelier, Nothing and Modern Baseball, but mostly I wanted some motivation to actually listen to this record at all since Chance’s last project—a stint as the lead vocalist of The Social Experiment—that yielded one album that I wasn’t a fan of. Most critics seemed to love "Coloring Book," likening it to an unrelentingly optimistic acid trip, so I gave it a listen.
To make my opinion as succinct as possible, even from the first track I knew I wasn’t going to be disappointed. The opening track “All We Got” features guests Kanye West and the Chicago Children’s Choir, and it perfectly sets the tone of the album, accentuating the minimalist proto-house beat with choral overtones and a stripped-down orchestra backdrop that paints the most descriptive and colorful picture of the album to come. If nothing else, the introduction gives us a window to everything that makes this mixtape delightful, namely the excellent production by The Social Experiment and the incredibly fluid implementation of gospel, soul, and trip-hop influences that are so apparent throughout the length of the album.
Perhaps the most surprising thing about this release is its ability to make me listen to rappers that I would normally have no interest in; every artist has a context in which they could sound truly great, but never in a million years did I believe I would find myself enjoying, nay, anticipating a verse delivered by Lil Wayne or 2 Chainz. That very unlikely event had already happened by the end of the second track, “No Problem,” and for the rest of "Coloring Book’s" 57-minute running time I had to accept that anything was possible.
This would continually be affirmed as I listened and heard combinations of sounds I never thought would work together be implemented so well that I started thinking maybe it was the most natural thing in the world. I even heard a Justin Bieber verse or two that I enjoyed, despite his voice sounding like an especially airy whisper that had all its power sucked out in post-production.
This is not to say Chance found perfection on this release, as "Coloring Book" is flawed in some regards. In particular, Chance tends to end songs right at their height, right at the crescendo that they were working toward, and every time it happens it sounds abrupt and unnatural. An album with as much flavor and dynamic song structure as this should let songs play out to their natural conclusion, and rather than cutting them off at their most enjoyable. I would have preferred having a solid ending to end the tracks, a more satisfying end.
Despite the penchant for anticlimactic songwriting, "Coloring Book" is ultimately saved by the truly unique tone that Chance found on this release. The entirety of my first listen, the album consistently made me feel both optimistic and nostalgic, namely on “Same Drugs,” a track that uses shifting drug preferences as a metaphor for people growing apart from one another. The trippy beats are soaking in color and retain their gospel tinge well on almost every track, never sounding out of place or forced in for thematic purposes.
But more than anything, "Coloring Book" will just put a smile on your face, whether you’re drawn to the soulful choirs, the top-notch production, or the opening track’s multi-layered Kanye Wests—a veritable chorus of Kanye's. Go listen to it now, is what I’m saying.
