Here's What You Probably Didn't Know About Chance The Rapper But Should
Here's what you need to know about one of Kanye's BFF's.
If you haven't heard about Chance The Rapper or his latest mixtape "Coloring Book" it probably means you've been stuffing crayons in your ears to avoid what Rolling Stone is calling "a gospel-rap masterpiece."
With the debut of his third mixtape to date, the unsigned artist is making beautiful noise with tracks are brimming with collaborations from Future to Bieber to Chance's cousin Nicole.
The mixtape has reached unprecedented popularity, as Billboard reports the "Coloring Book"' debut in the top 10 of the Billboard 200 albums chart, becoming the first streaming-exclusive set to reach the list.
With "All Night" predicted to be a contender for the song of summer 2016 it's about time you get to know the important stuff about Chancelor Bennett, the Southside of Chicago rapper who is turning the music industry on it's head.
Chance The Rapper an unsigned artist shaking up the music industry.
After his 2013 "Acid Rap" release Rolling Stone asked if he would ever sign with a label. "There's no reason to. It's a dead industry."
Chance continued to defend his statement which has left many people puzzled, especially because of his close relationships with other artists who own labels themselves.
"The whole point of Acid Rap was just to ask people a question: does the music business side of this dictate what type of project this is? If it's all original music and it's got this much emotion around it and it connects this way with this many people, is it a mixtape? What's an album these days, anyways? 'Cause I didn't sell it, does that mean it's not an official release? So I might not ever drop a for-sale project. Maybe I'll just make my money touring."
We're anxiously awaiting the release of those tour dates, Chance.
Chance is from Chicago, and he's pretty damn proud of that.
Chance was incorporated into Chicago Magazine's "100 Most Powerful List" and we can see why.
After interviewing Chance the magazine shares why the then 22-year-old made the list. He's "doing his part to curb violence (for the past two years, he has run, with his father and younger brother, a social media campaign, #SaveChicago, to encourage the city to go shooting-free over the typically murderous Memorial Day weekend), inspire up-and-coming talent (he founded and hosts an open-mike show in collaboration with the Harold Washington Library Center), provide some diversions (he helped mount a free teens-oriented music festival in June on Northerly Island that drew 3,300), and expose kids to the city s cultural offerings (in July, he surprised Chicago Park District day campers by serving as their tour guide on field trips to the Adler Planetarium, Field Museum, and Shedd Aquarium)."
From his lyrics to his activism and actions, it is clear Chance The Rapper is proud of his native city and doing whatever he can to better it.
He gets by with a little help from his friends.
"Surf" is Chance's second mixtape released in 2015 and is a collaboration with Donnie Trumpet and "The Social Experiment", a four-member songwriting and production unit that began as Chance's backup band on his 2013.
Both Trumpet and other members of The Social Experiment serve as artistic collaborators and longtime friends of Chance.
His favorite track on "Coloring Book" is "How Great."
The "Coloring Book" track is a collaboration between Chance and his cousin Nicole. It lends itself to the Grammy award winning Gospel song "How Great Is Our God" by Chris Tomlin, and is indicative of the powerful spirituality Chance weaves throughout the entire mixtape.
Chance loves "Arthur."
"It's a simple message, and it comes from the heart." Chance covered the "Arthur theme song "Wonderful Everyday" along with The Social Experiment, professing his love for the popular 90's cartoon and empowering theme song message.
He was once the voiceover on an Adult Swim show.
During a 2013 Q & A with Rolling Stone Chance revealed he did a voice-over for the Adult Swim animated series "Black Dynamite."
"I played Bob Marley in an episode," said Chance.
Just when we thought he couldn't get any cooler.
He loves the Chicago White Sox, and designed 3 hats for the team.
Chance, a diehard Chicago White Sox fan, designed three hats for the team inspired by The Social Experiment's logo. He even lived out every Southside of Chicago native's childhood dream when he threw the first pitch of the season.
Kanye's "The College Dropout" was the first album Chance ever bought.
Chance bought the album in the fifth grade.
The two became friends and drew inspiration from each other.
Chance collaborated on Kanye's "The Life Of Pablo" and had so much influence he fought to keep the song "Waves" on the album and did so successfully.
We all know Kanye loves Kanye, but Kanye also loves Chance, too.
Kanye is featured on the track "All We Got" on "Coloring Book."
We're pretty impressed with what Chance has done for the music industry at 23-years-old.
We're might be even more impressed with his dance moves. We're willing to bet this guy will continue to impact the music industry with his positive lyrics, artistic collaborations, and a mindset that sets him apart as a true trailblazer in the music industry.
"Coloring Book" is currently available on Apple Music and is rumored to be available on Spotify and other streaming sites on May 27.