Chancellor Johnathan Bennett, aka Chance the Rapper has been rapping since his early childhood. He released his first mixtape, 10 Day, while he was still in high school. However, he first started gaining prominence after the release of his second mixtape, Acid Rap. It has been downloaded over 1 million times since its release in 2013. In 2016, Chance released his third mixtape, Coloring Book, which received over 57 million streams during the first week of its release. It is this stat that will be the focus of this article.
Chance the Rapper is changing the game of rap. Heck, he's changing the game of music altogether. He is doing something that almost no artists are these days. Chance is an independent artist, meaning he hasn't signed with a record label. This also means that he doesn't sell his music. While most artists are hungry for money, Chance is perfectly content streaming all of his music for free. In his song, "Blessings," he says "I don't make songs for free, I make 'em for freedom." In this line he is showing that he isn't in it for the money, he just cares about his fans. He makes money strictly from merchandise and concerts. His last mixtape, Coloring Book, debuted at number 8 on the Billboard 200. He was the first person to appear on this chart based on streams alone. In his song, "No Problem," Chance says "If one more label try to stop me, it's gon' be some dreadhead @$#% in ya lobby." Here, he is basically telling the labels that he is doing fine without them.
On top of this, Chance has been attempting to set a good example for kids with his latest mixtape. While Acid Rap had a plethora of drug references, it appears that Chance is trying to change it up with Coloring Book. He is an outright Christian and it shows in his latest mixtape. Many songs have references to God and helping out one's community/family. Being from Chicago, Chance has also been an advocate against gun violence. He even started a Twitter campaign for 42 hours in order to raise awareness for gun violence prevention.
All in all, Chance the Rapper is changing the face of the music industry as we know it, in more ways than one. It will be interesting to see how other artists adapt to this trend.
"When the praises go up, the blessings come down."
