Chance the Rapper: The New “King of Chicago”

Olivia Fu, News editor

Chance the Rapper swears his life is perfect. And how could it not be? Teens love him. Parents love him. President Obama loves him. Chicago loves him. This new dynamic rapper is changing the face of hip-hop through his vivacious personality, and  is using his growing fame to help clean up the streets of Chicago.

As his influence and popularity have skyrocketed following the release of his mixtape Coloring Book in May, Chance the Rapper’s  joyful and lovable personality have endeared him to hip-hop fans across the nation, including Chance’s own role models such as Kanye West and President Obama. Chance attended President Obama’s final State Dinner (with his dad as his date), and will be performing at the White House’s National Christmas Tree Lighting concert this Christmas.

In fact, even Chance the Rapper’s Grammy consideration ad made headlines with its playfulness and  simple message. Unlike other ads, which often tout the artists’ accomplishments, Chance’s simply features him posing like Usain Bolt wearing his signature overalls and baseball cap and saying, “Hey, why not me?”.

And why not Chance? According to Billboard Magazine, it’s likely that Chance will be nominated for Grammys in multiple categories, including the prestigious “Best New Artist” Category.

Previously, since Chance distributes all of his music for free in the non-traditional form of a mixtape, his music would not have been eligible for any Grammys. However, due to a change to the Recording Academy’s selection process, music that was released for free will  be eligible for a Grammy nomination, so long as it is available on a paid streaming service and was released between Oct. 1, 2015 and Sept. 30, 2016. Chance the Rapper’s critically acclaimed Coloring Book meets all of these qualifications.

Coloring Book features the same bright energy that his previous solo mixtape “Acid Rap” does, but Coloring Book focuses more on the themes of dance, love, Chicago, and his faith. His music reflects these themes, as he harmoniously blends traditional Gospel music with his passionate and modern raps.

“Reaching back to the very beginning of black music in America, Chance recontextualizes one of the most enduring African-American art forms for 2016’s most urgent one…. And, as a rapper, Chance is everything we love about hip-hop in 2016. The convoluted and conscious-minded bars of Kendrick Lamar, the melodic gymnastics of Young Thug, the Oculus Rift ambitions of Kanye West,” stated the Rolling Stone As the Rolling Stone in an article naming Coloring Book the “richest hip hop album of 2016 so far”.

Since Chance doesn’t sell his music, he makes all of his revenue through touring and selling merchandise, such as his now iconic “3” baseball caps.

It’s not just his music, and personality, that make him such a standout in the music realm. Chance has been using all the means at his disposal to fix the inequities in the industry, and usher in a new era for hip hop that focuses on making good music for the sake of good music, not profit.

Throughout his entire career in the music industry, Chance has distributed all of his music for free in the non-traditional form of a mixtape. Instead of selling music, Chance makes money by touring and by selling merchandise.

Additionally, he’s refused to sign with any record label, and instead releases all of his music  as an independent artist- both to maintain the integrity and artistic vision he wants to have as an artist, and to demonstrate to other aspiring musicians that it’s possible to be successful without signing to a label.

Chance has also taken on another perpetrator of injustice in the music community: scalpers. At his Magnificent Coloring Day event in Chicago this past August, Chance bought back 2,000 tickets from scalpers and resold them at the the original prices ($45-$75).

Additionally, Chance has done extensive service to try and “clean up” Chicago, as he states in his song “Angels”.

“After a year of promoting #SaveChicago to combat the city’s rising violence, Chance received Chicago’s Outstanding Youth of the Year Award. He responded by headlining social efforts including an open mic night series and Warmest Winter project – a charity providing over 1,000 sleeping bags that turn into coats for Chicago homeless,” said Robert Kelly in an article he wrote in The Guardian.

This past year, before his Coloring Book tour, Chance hosted monthly open-mics in order to encourage high school artists to pursue their passions. Recently, he’s been campaigning to get people to register to vote by hosting voter registration before a few of his concerts, and he launched a non-profit organization called SocialWorks at his “Magnificent Coloring Day” festival on September 26th. Chance is hosting rooftop concert and ‘Parade to the Polls’ on November 7th through SocialWorks to demonstrate the strength of Chicago millennials’ political power and magnify their voices.

Chance has a song on the upcoming Hamilton Mixtape that is being released on December 2. Additionally, he’s starring in the feature-film “Slice” produced A24 that’s set to release in the second half of 2017.