It is rare for independent artists to have any commercial success, but Chance the Rapper took that stereotype and threw it out of the window with his release of "Coloring Book" in 2016. Coloring Book can be marked as Chance the Rappers true claim to fame. Everything about the project was flawless, from the cover art to the gospel sounding production to Chance’s signature adlibs. Chancelor Bennett is well on his way to becoming one of this generations most notable artists. However, Chance the Rapper has not always been the Jesus praising rapper that he is today. There is a history… A history that many, outside of his true fans, do not know about. But luckily I am here to relay that history to you, so you can pretend like you were down with Chance the Rapper since “10 Day,” (that will make sense soon). Without further ado, I present to you… THE EVOLUTION OF CHANCE THE RAPPER.
"10 Day"
On April 3rd, 2012 Chance the Rapper released his first full length mixtape, “10 Day.” The story behind this mixtape is unique, but simple. Chance was suspended from school for ten days and in those 10 days he recorded a mixtape and released it to the public a year later. Chance had been making a lot of waves on the internet, before he released this project “Complex” magazine named him one of “Ten Chicago Rappers to Watch Out For.” Chance the Rapper was slowly building up his presence on the internet.
Sonically, “10 Day” was otherworldly; with producers like Chuck Inglish and Flying Lotus (just to name a few) handling beats the project was already headed in the right direction. However, Chance has never been one to hide behind production, he had a voice that he was going to demand be heard. Despite this project being one of my favorite mixtapes of all time, at the time Chance was still a lesser known rapper so this release fell way under the radar. This mixtape can be looked at as the “Freaks and Geeks” of mixtapes in 2012. Even though this project was underrated at its time, it still marks the beginning of an amazing rap career for Chance the Rapper. A career that continues in 2013 with his release of “Acid Rap”
"Acid Rap"
"Acid Rap" was released on April 30th, 2013, a little over a year after the release of "10 Day". The mixtape is what made people start to listen and respect Chance the Rapper as a force in the rap genre. "10 Day" showed Chance’s potential, but "Acid Rap" saw Chance grow and flesh out his skills. "Acid Rap" went diamond on premiere mixtape streaming service, "Datpiff" and it debuted at sixty-three on the "Billboard" Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums list for that year. It was considered an album by most, but it is a traditional mixtape that was treated like an album. Chance is one of the first artists that belongs to the millennial generation to reach critical acclaim off the release of a mixtape.
"Acid Rap" was my first exposure to Chance the Rapper. Admittedly when this mixtape came out, I was not a fan. I felt that his voice was odd, and the overall sound was just unsettling to me. However, weeks later I found myself ‘accidentally’ singing the lyrics to "Juice" and "Favorite Song," that’s what Chance does to you. He plants seeds from the first listen and eventually you catch yourself singing or humming the song at the most random times. Anyways, after listening to this mixtape and fully appreciating it, I became a die-hard Chance the Rapper fan. "Acid Rap" was a raw look at his psyche at the time, and it brought a new perspective that many of us had never expected to hear in rap music. I will always have a soft spot for this amazing mixtape, and it, like "10 Day," has made its way onto my list of favorite all time mixtapes. While "Acid Rap" was an amazing release for Chance the Rapper, it would be two years before his next project that took a unique approach to rap and challenged Chance’s style, in 2015 Chance the Rapper released a project with his band Donnie Trumpet and The Social Experiment, Surf.
"Surf"
"Surf" is a touchy project to talk about for one specific reason. That reason being that you cannot talk about Chance singularly on this project. It was a mixtape that not only showcased Chance’s talent, but The Social Experiment’s talent as well. I have heard many fans refer to this album as a Chance the Rapper project simply because his vocals appear on over half of the songs on the mixtape. While Chance does exhibit exponential growth lyrically between "Acid Rap" and this project, this is not just a Chance the Rapper project. The other members of The Social experiment including, Nico Segal, Donnie Trumpet, Peter Cottontale, Greg Landfair Jr., and Nate Fox, deserve just as much credit as Chance does, if not more. Combined all of them came together to create a beautiful project that lets everyone in the group flourish. Now that I have acknowledged the rest of the group, I can now with a clear conscience discuss what this project did for Chance the Rapper’s development in his own career.
Chance the Rapper’s perspective on life changed dramatically from "Acid Rap" to "Surf." You could tell that his mind was no longer exploring the same dark thoughts that he was exploring on Acid Rap and even 10 Day. Short story, in those two years Chance grew up. I remember when this came out on May 28th, 2015, many were confused by such a shift. I was among the confused fans, but I began to realize that Chance’s growth was necessary. It was good that Chance gave us what he gave us in 2015 because it laid the foundation for what was to come later. This project was like a prelude to 2016’s "Grammy" nominated "Coloring Book."
"Coloring Book"
Our final stop on the evolution of Chance the Rapper concludes at the "Grammy" nominated mixtape "Coloring Book." This project is without a doubt Chance’s most developed and concise project up to date. "Coloring Book" was released on May 13th, 2016 and ended the year on countless album of the year lists. Also, if I haven’t mentioned this already, "Coloring Book" was nominated for a "Grammy," ‘Best Rap Album,’ with fellow rappers, Drake, Kanye West, and De La Soul. Chance the Rapper’s career came full circle with this project. He proved that it is possible to be a respected artist in rap with no label.
"Coloring Book" was a project like no other. It is one of the first that I have heard to fuse Gospel music and Rap seamlessly. It doesn’t sound forced and it doesn’t sound phony, this mixtape remains transparent from top to bottom. Not to mention the fact that Chance’s project inspired Kanye West’s most recent project "The Life of Pablo," many don’t know that Chance worked very closely with the Kanye on the development of that album.
Chance the Rapper has made a bigger impact in four years than most rappers do in their whole careers. While it may seem that Chance the Rapper has reached the pinnacle of success, he has only just begun. Only time will tell what Chance will do with his newfound fame. I am 100 percent positive that his next move will be just as legendary as his last.
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