May 16, 2016
If there ever were a piece of music that fully encompassed and defined the artist it belonged to, it would be Chance the Rapper's new mixtape Coloring Book. In it, he reveals every facet of his being, further blurring the already evasive definition of a mixtape. In it, he expresses his struggles, achievements, longings, passions and regrets. In it, we get Chance the Rapper in all his spiritual, fluid and rhythmical glory.
The mixtape was released on the 12th of May on Apple Music and, at that moment, the world came to a halt. In a week, it amassed close to a million tweets. To understand how incredible this is, you have to keep in mind that this is a mixtape, a word often used derogatorily to refer to rough-cut pieces of music released by obscure Soundcloud artists. In addition, this is an unsigned, fiercely independent artist, competing with new releases from the likes of Drake, Kanye West, Kendrick Lamar and Beyonce, not to mention James Blake and Radiohead.
The album opens with Donnie Trumpet, Chance’s long time collaborator and The Social Experiment band mate, blaring a soulful tune reminiscent of work from their latest album Surf. The track “All We Got” is Chance welcoming his dedicated fans to what they have been waiting three years to year. He features, not surprisingly, Kanye West, to whom he contributed a solid verse in The Life of Pablo’s opener “Ultralight Beam.” Again, to put it in perspective, Chance had Kanye West, one of the biggest stars in music, on a mixtape. A free piece of music. The contrast is stark, considering how much a pair of Yeezy’s cost. It’s a testament to the raw power Chance exudes in the music industry. And this is just the first track.
What follows is a message to all the corporations that try to commercialize the free spirit that is Chancelor Bennet. He features the master protégé duo, Tunechi and 2 Chainz. Throughout the song, you can tell how in sync Chance and Lil Wayne are, with Weezy facing similar problems from his label, Young Money Cash Money Records. Loud and proud they warn ‘If one more label try to stop me, it’s gon’ be some dreadhead niggas in ya lobby!’
“Summer Friends”, the third track on this mixtape, shows how musically unsolidified Chance is. He features Jeremih and does so in a way that combines the artist’s different musical perspectives. We have Chance's vivid lyricism and Jeremih's ambient build up, mashed up into a coherent wavy kind of song. He does something similar in his next collaboration “Mixtape” featuring the trap lords that are Young Thug and Lil Yatchy. Although the natural musical styles of these artists more often than not juxtapose themselves, Chance and Young Thug share a common love interest. That is, the mixtape. It works amazingly well and I wouldn’t be surprised if this song were to top the charts in the next few weeks.
The next three songs, “D.R.A.M Sings Special”, “Blessings” and “Same Drug” feature Chance at his most expressive. The first, featuring upcomer D.R.A.M, carries on the hopefulness Chance vividly expressed in his last epic Acid Rap. “Blessings” is a clear expression of his faith, somewhat similar to his single “Sunday Candy” but with less touch-in-cheek lyricism ("take and eat my body like it's holy"). When he first played the song on The Tonight Show, I didn’t expect such brazen spiritualism. Few did, and honestly, this is my favourite song from the album. When’s the last time you heard gospel music on primetime television? Again, Chance redefines it all by unashamedly expressing his beliefs on a mixtape. A mixtape that at the same time features many artists whose religious beliefs are as fluid as Chance’s genre-bending skills (Looking at you Kanye).
The further you go down this album, the more juxtaposition you find. The next song “Same Drugs” is the epitome of simplicity, featuring Chance soulfully rapping to a piano. It’s reminiscent of Kanye’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy “Runaway”, but with much simpler production aesthetics. One expects an up-tempo bit to kick in at the end but rather, it mellows out even further with a beautiful instrumental followed by Chance radiating comfort singing ‘Don’t forget the happy thoughts, all you need is happy thoughts.’
“Angels” is the first single from the mixtape that we’ve had for a few months now and in it he features his The Social Experiment bandmates in this criminally catchy track that’s a further expression of Chance’s beliefs, with the video set in his hometown, Chicago. The next song is more proof of the favours Chance has the power to call in. In the laidback track “Juke Jam” he features Justin Bieber and Towkio. Justin Bieber, one of the biggest pop-stars in music, is featured on a mixtape. I shan’t tire of expressing just how this redefines the entire music genre. The song has the same laid back flow of their last collaboration “Confident” and now we have Towkio, another previous collaborator, appear on the chorus. “All night”, the Kaytranada produced track, is bite-size and catchy, giving us a sort of break before we stumble into the heaviness of the next track.
In “How Great”, Chance sits the listener down and gives them the brazen truth. It opens with a chorus led by Chances cousin (another example of barefaced contrast) followed by a theological verse by Chance that haves you, at the end, re-examine everything you take to be true. Jay Electronica features as well, giving us the more straight-up truth, even though he actually is a practising Muslim (the contrast does not end!) Unsurprisingly, Chance reveals in his Reddit AMA that this is his favourite song from the album.
With the mixtape coming to a close, Chance features another pop-powerhouse, Future, in the song “Smoke Break” where he, again, genre-bends the two vastly different styles of the rappers. The album closes with “Finish Line/Drown” featuring an array of artists (T-Pain, Kirk Franklin, Eryn Allan Kane and Noname) in a church-worthy praise that you cannot help but smile at. The last song, the reprise of Blessings, carries on Chances expression of his faith, featuring another array of top-tier artists (Ty Dolla $ign, Anderson .Paak, Raury, BJ the Chicago Kid, him, Nico and Donnie Trumpet) performing as a choir.
The entire theme of the mixtape is conveyed in a line from “Blessings” - "I don’t make songs for free, I make them for freedom." Freedom, in that Chance shall forever remain an independent spirit, never to be chained to any corporate behemoths. Through his freedom, he expresses his admiration for many of his musically talented friends, the unending strength of his Christian faith, his love for his hometown and his never-ending belief in the art form that is the mixtape. These are the facets of Chance’s being as he expresses them to us. And for this, we have to thank him. Chance 3, Coloring Book, was definitely worth the wait.