By: Ryan Martin
After Chance the Rapper dropped the critically acclaimed Acid Rap in 2013, he solidified himself as one of Chicago's most impressive up-and-coming artists. Since then, he has released an album for free with his band, The Social Experiment and contributed insane guest verses for the likes of Justin Bieber as well as the stand-out feature on Kanye West's new album The Life of Pablo. We had to wait three long years for a new solo project from Chano but it was well worth the wait.
Chance named his new project Coloring Book and for good reason. Throughout the entire project, Chance paints a beautiful picture full of bright colors with his impressive lyrics, gospel influence, and all around good vibes. Since the tape has dropped people have been comparing it to church music and saying things like it makes them want to go back to church. If gospel vibes on a hip-hop tape isn't your cup of tea, you might want to skip this project though. While it is full with summer anthems and music that inspires good moods, it draws a lot of influence not only from music heard at church, but from Chance's present mindset which is so exuberantly happy over the recent birth of his daughter and being able to work with not just his heroes but his friends as well. And have as much creative freedom as they want due to the fact that Chance is not currently signed to a major-label. Which restricts creativity in exchange for exposure.
After Chance the Rapper dropped the critically acclaimed Acid Rap in 2013, he solidified himself as one of Chicago's most impressive up-and-coming artists. Since then, he has released an album for free with his band, The Social Experiment and contributed insane guest verses for the likes of Justin Bieber as well as the stand-out feature on Kanye West's new album The Life of Pablo. We had to wait three long years for a new solo project from Chano but it was well worth the wait.
Chance named his new project Coloring Book and for good reason. Throughout the entire project, Chance paints a beautiful picture full of bright colors with his impressive lyrics, gospel influence, and all around good vibes. Since the tape has dropped people have been comparing it to church music and saying things like it makes them want to go back to church. If gospel vibes on a hip-hop tape isn't your cup of tea, you might want to skip this project though. While it is full with summer anthems and music that inspires good moods, it draws a lot of influence not only from music heard at church, but from Chance's present mindset which is so exuberantly happy over the recent birth of his daughter and being able to work with not just his heroes but his friends as well. And have as much creative freedom as they want due to the fact that Chance is not currently signed to a major-label. Which restricts creativity in exchange for exposure.
Chance has no problem with exposure nor the idea of not being paid for his music as he releases all of his music completely free. You'd think this would set restrictions on him but it really doesn't. Chano has no problem scoring features as Coloring Book is full of features ranging from Kanye West, Future, Lil Wayne, 2 Chainz, Lil Yachty, Jeremih, Young Thug, Justin Bieber, Jay Electronica and more. Chance has a natural charisma and talent to him that brings out the best in others as well as himself which benefits to the end product. I'm normally not huge on when an artist has a ton of features on their albums. Especially debut projects. Logic put out his first album with no features on the standard edition of the album which I believe is the right way to approach an album. To tell your story or message efficiently rather than trying to sell the album based off of names. Chance gets his message across clear while still maintaining the enthusiastic approach to an album by filling it with features. He was able to put artists on tracks that you wouldn't expect from their catalog. Like the heavily gospel influenced track "How Great" which features Jay Electronica on the back end of the track. Or Future on the more mellow "Smoke Break" which is actually one of my favorites off the album. But not every feature is perfect. I didn't care for Lil Wayne's contribution to "No Problem" and found it extremely underwhelming. I also was disappointed by Kanye's addition to "All We Got". I felt that the ideas were in the right place for the opening track specifically but it comes across as very jumbled and there is a lot of overlapping tracks going on at the same time. It's a very overwhelming track where as it is beautiful in the sense that Donnie Trumpet and the rest of The Social Experiment provide incredible use of fresh instrumentation. But everything sounds cluttered and overall becomes an uneasy track to listen to. On the other hand, there are tracks where the arrangements are near perfect. Such as standouts "Blessings", "Finish Line/Drown" and "Blessings (Reprise)". These three create such beautiful harmonies and the choir for both Finish Line and the Reprise of Blessings are heavenly.
I'm gonna level with you. Coloring Book was not what I expected from Chance. After the powerful performance on "Ultralight Beam", I thought that was Chance's ode to God and Heaven. But Coloring Book further proves that Chance is not done thanking the lord for his blessings and how positively he is looking at his life right now. It's really something to be admired, that Chance can take all of the overwhelming positivity in his life right now and transfer it sonically into a work of art. I do believe that if you're just now jumping on the Chance bandwagon, that Acid Rap is the place to start. I wouldn't go as far to say that Chance peaked then, but I believe as of now it is the better tape. I like every song on Acid Rap and while it did take a while for me to fully appreciate, I feel I am having the same experience with Coloring Book. There are still tracks I don't care for, including "Mixtape" and "Juke Jam". I get what Chance was trying to do with Mixtape, and that's create a straight-up banger. But the beats just don't do it for me and I honestly wish it went a little harder. The problem I have with Juke Jam is not only Bieber's uninspired vocals but how forgettable the track is to me as of now. I do enjoy Chance's verse but Towkio's hook is honestly kind of boring to me now. I haven't wanted to revisit it just yet, But it has potential to grow on me.
Chance has created not just one of the most positive albums to come out this year so far but one of the most powerful ones. One that makes you feel in touch with God even if you haven't been to church in years, or don't believe. He was able to perfectly mesh the themes of summer and gospel as he layers on poetic bars and luscious harmonies. Coloring Book has it's flaws like any album, but is more than just a group of random songs thrown together. They all mean something and while Coloring Book isn't a concept album, it follows a similar vibe and message throughout the entire project; Are you ready for your blessings?
Chance has created not just one of the most positive albums to come out this year so far but one of the most powerful ones. One that makes you feel in touch with God even if you haven't been to church in years, or don't believe. He was able to perfectly mesh the themes of summer and gospel as he layers on poetic bars and luscious harmonies. Coloring Book has it's flaws like any album, but is more than just a group of random songs thrown together. They all mean something and while Coloring Book isn't a concept album, it follows a similar vibe and message throughout the entire project; Are you ready for your blessings?