COMM 380:  Media Criticism

These words were spoken by 23 year old Chicago native, Chancellor Bennett aka Chance the Rapper. The lyrics come from his third and latest album “Coloring Book”, on the song Blessings. The album was released on May 13th, 2016, and dominated hip-hop heads tracklists all summer. After his second and immensely popular mixtape “Acid Rap”, “Coloring Book” was the culmination of years of hard work and a welcoming party for Chance into the ranks of hip hop’s elite. It also marked the evolution of Chance from an artistic, eloquent, party rapper into a social, religious and political leader within the Millennial generation, while also changing the frame in which the public views rappers. Lastly, this album also shows the base values of Chance, and how he is using these values to change the way we perceive music.

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“Acid Rap” was, for many, the first taste of Chancellor Bennett’s beautifully different world. Whether it was the calm, painful lament of “Acid Rain” or “Cocoa Butter Kisses” or it was the jazz filled, bombastic, feel good songs like “Good Ass Intro” or “Juice”, the world was introduced to an intelligent MC, who’s nostalgic, family friendly rap, took the music scene by storm (Genius.com). “Acid Rap” was released in 2013 (Genius.com) and in the three years between AR and CB, the music industry craved more from Lil Chano from 79th. He was featured on Action Bronson’s hit, “Baby Blues” in 2015, as well as on the Snakehip’s song “All My Friends” in the same year (Genius.com). Also Chance collaborated with his tour band, (The Social Experiment) with famed Chicago producer Donnie Trumpet to create the album “Surf” where a variety of musicians were given the chance (no pun intended) to showcase their musical talent (Genius.com. “Coloring Book” truly cemented Chance’s standing in the music scene, as it showed him working with some of the most influential musicians in music today. His first track, “All That We Got” pairs him with another Chicago native, Kanye West.

 

The features of “Coloring Book” read like a line up for an award show; Lil Wayne, 2 Chainz, Jeremih, Francis and the Lights, Justin Bieber, Future, Ty Dolla $ign, Young Thug, Kirk Franklin, D.R.A.M. ,T- Pain and Jay Electronica (Genius.com). Here we see the heights that Chance has risen to in a short three years. Changing from a relatively unknown rapper, to becoming the protege of Kanye West is certainly a jump. Likewise, we’ve seen Chance’s influence because of this album. “Coloring Book” was the first streaming album to break into the Billboard Top 200 (Willman, 2016). The album did so well that the Recording Academy of America, (despite what they tell you) change their rules about Grammy nominations.

 

Prior to this year, the Recording Academy had a rule about who could be nominated for a Grammy award, specifically how an album had to be released for profit for to be considered for a nomination. On June 16th, the Recording Academy changed this rule to include albums released online for streaming purposes. Now, albums can be released non-gratis and still be able to compete for the industry’s highest honor, a Grammy (Willman, 2016).

 

“Coloring Book” also cemented the mental change that Chance has experienced since releasing “Acid Rap” and even his first project “Ten Day”. “Acid Rap” was a mixtape that showed the South Side native as adolescent trying to figure out who he was. He speaks about taking LSD, Xanax and a variety of different substances (Genius.com). His message of positivity was one that was hampered with a variety of drug use and criminal activity. “Ten Day” was recorded in the ten days that Chance was suspended in high school for marijuana use at his former high school (Genius.com). This change in style is encompassing of Chicago’s music scene.

 

In Kareem R. Muhammad’s article, “Don’t call it a comeback: a full return to hip-hop subculture in Chicago”, he speaks about the return to hip hop subculture in Chicago. That is to say that there are many different subcultures within Chicago that value different parts of the music (Muhammad 2015, p 6-7). Chance offers this to these communities by focusing on unknown within the music industry. In the second song of the album, called “No Problem”, Chance opens up by saying “If one more label try to stop me, there’s gonna be some dread headed n****s in the lobby” (No Problem, Bennett 2016). We see Chance’s refusal to fall to the traditional path of a musician. He refused to sign with a record label, largely because he doesn’t want his music commercialized, instead preferring to have his music controlled himself (Genius.com). He doesn’t make music for the Billboard charts, but rather “makes songs for freedom” (an actual line from the song Blessings on “Coloring Book”). He refuses to industrialize his art, instead preferring to promote it through his own means. He continues in the song “Finish Line/ Drown” by saying:

 

“I've been getting blocked just trying to make songs with friends, Labels told me to my face that they own my friends”(Finish Line, Bennett, 2016).

 

Chance just simply wants to make songs with his musician friends, but is restricted by their record label. Chance decides to do his own thing with his albums. In fact, “Coloring Book” also notes a change towards Christianity for Chance. Whether it’s the song “Blessings”, which’s chorus talks about praising the Lord until your last breath, or “How Great”, a six minute song who’s first half is a cover of Christian artist Chris Tomlin, the godly influence is seen throughout the album (Genius.com).

 

No longer is Chance glorifying the negative aspects of hip hop, but instead, flipping the idea of being a rap superstar on it’s head. Instead of talking about violence and substance, he is speaking on something that holds substance (Genius.com). He reflects back on his own life with true honestly. In “Finish Line/ Drown”, Chance looks at his own past failures, rapping:

 

“Reclining on a prayer, I'm declining to help, I've been lying to my body can't rely on myself oh no, Last year got addicted to xans, Started forgetting my name and started missing my chance” (Finish Line, Bennett, 2016).

 

Chance isn’t perfect, but in traditional Christian nature, he never claims to be. He struggles with vices in his own life, and even admits that when involved in these vices, he neglects his religion. He even recognizes that in doing so, he is powerless to stop, saying as much in the line mentioned. In the song “Blessings (Reprise)”, he speaks on how God influences his music, saying:

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“I speak to God in public, I speak to God in public, He keep my rhymes in couplets, He think the new shit jam, I think we mutual fans” (Blessings (Reprise), Bennett, 2016).

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Through his changing themes from albums to album, we further see the maturation of Chance the Rapper into much more than a musician.

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“Coloring Book” was definitely a maturation of Chance as a musician, but it also marks a change for hip hop as a whole. From hip hop’s beginning in the Bronx, it has not always been seen in a positive light from the mainstream public.

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In the late 1980’s, gangster rap was the soup du jour of hip hop fans. The hate against hip hop was so bad at one point, that NWA were seen as a threat to national security from the FBI. The advent of gangster rap was characterized by activist Kevin Powell as:

 

“ When I think about the insanity of gangsta rap and consider its powerful influence on our young, I’m haunted by the feeling that for African Americans, time is running out. When this party is over years from now, when we look back on these times, we’re going to have to answer for why we didn’t rescue our children for themselves...” (Gallien 2002, p 14)  

 

Yet, not all hip hop music is gangster rap, and herein lies the problem with categorizing music like this. Chance doesn’t fit into this framework. His music all has themes of traditional hip hop, but his gospel laced verses speak to something higher than himself.

 

Gangster rap still exists in the forms of Chief Kief, Gucci Mane and countless other rappers. Louis Gallen, an African-Americanist scholar, argues that these themes in gangster rap, specifically the idea of “keeping it real” are being taught to our children because of the popularity of these musicians. He also argues that it is the responsibility of the artists to be hold to their words. He states:

“To escape the responsibility of your words is like trying to escape from a burning building with a flammable jacket: It does not make sense within the context of clarifying one’s values. To believe that these artists are only the “messengers” of violence on the streets and not in any way culpable for their lyrics is to believe that no person’s words have consequences. Words have started wars.” (Gallien 2002, p 9)

 

Chance is holding himself accountable for his words and actions. The frame of which the American public views rappers will forever be changed because of “Coloring Book”. No long is rap confined to gangster rap. Sure, artists have come before Chance that did not fit into the mold of a gangster, but none have done it in the same way. With Chance, he is being painted as the alternative to gangster rap, even respecting the genre, and desiring to work with famed gangster rapper Chief Kief.

 

The last part of “Coloring Book” we will touch on, is Chance’s socially conscious raps relating towards crime, gun violence and the problems that are arising in Chance’s home town of Chicago. The single for “Coloring Book” was a song titled “Angels”, where a mix of jazz and non traditional hip hop beats plead for a safer Chicago.

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“I got my city doing front flips, When every father, mayor, rapper jump ship, I guess that's why they call it where I stay, Clean up the streets, so my daughter can have somewhere to play” (Angels, Bennett, 2016).

 

Here, Chance reminds the world, that while other people may have abandoned Chicago during this time of turmoil, that Chance is not leaving. He is here to help bring back Chicago’s former glory to the whole city, not just the affluent northern part of the city, but even in the much more violent south side (FSD, 2015). He continues in the second verse saying:

 

It's too many young angels on the southside, Got us scared to let our grandmomma's outside, You gon' make me take the campers way downtown, You gon' make me turn my BM to my housewife” (Angels, Bennett, 2016).

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Chance shows the problems with Chicago here. The problems are so bad that people can’t even leave their houses. Children, women and men are all being killed by stray bullets (Barber, 2015). This doesn’t sit well with Chance, as he constantly speaks about reforming the city. Throughout many of his songs (all of which were released after “Coloring Book”), Chance speaks about running for local office (Genius.com). Chance’s social activism is seen specifically through “Coloring Book”, but isn’t the only place we see that.

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In September of this year, Chance started a nonprofit called “Warmest Winter 2016”, which is designed to provide winter coats to Chicago citizens who may not have access to the necessary means to survive the cold Chicago Winters (Wagner, 2016). For the past two Memorial Days, Chance has helped organize over a hundred anti-gun violence protests throughout Chicago, and in 2015, Chance helped establish a span of 42 straight hours without a reported case of gun violence (Barber, 2015). While that might sound minimal, it shows the severity of Chicago’s violent criminal underground. It also shows the influence that Chance carries within his own community. He can be a voice of change, because he has proven in the past that his influence can affect change.

 

Chance the Rapper’s “Coloring Book” is an amazing hip hop album, simply at face value. Yet, the more you dig, the more you follow the artistic changes, you see the true scope of this album's excellence. The positivity that is exuberated by Chance speaks to a person’s soul. Here is

one of the most popular hip hop musicians in the world today, refraining from using completely traditional hip hop themes and instead preferring to speak on social injustice and the gospel of Christ. The album has also changed how society sees rappers in public sphere, by forcing the frames of what it means to be hip hop artist to change.

 

Likewise, rap has changed because of artists like Chance and will continue to change because of artists like them. David E. Kirkland, a professor at NYU Steinhardt spoke on this changing atmosphere of rap, saying : “In English education, for example, the asymmetrical and oftentimes racist distancing (and excluding) of hip- hop texts and cultures are now rightly being critiqued and re-considered. Hence, we are learning.” (Kirkland, 2008, pg 2).

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Rap is no longer on the outskirts of society, a taboo subject that divide race and class. It has slowly become accepted as a respected art form within the literature community. It is not yet there, but art like Chances and others before him continue to garner this respect.

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References

 

Barber, A. (n.d.). Chance The Rapper Launches Citywide Anti-Violence Campaign For Holiday Weekend. Retrieved November 22, 2016, from http://www.fakeshoredrive.com/2015/05/chance-the-rapper-launches-citywide-anti- violence-campaign-for-holiday-weekend.html/

 

Chicago's Chance The Rapper Joins With Nonprofit To Give Coats To Homeless. (n.d.). Retrieved November 22, 2016, from http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo- way/2015/12/18/460296647/chicagos-chance-the-rapper-joins-with-nonprofit-to-give- coats-to-homeless

 

Gallien, L. B. (2002, 01). Keeping It Real: Hip-Hop Culture and the Framing of Values for Contemporary African-American Students. Journal of College and Character, 3(8). doi:10.2202/1940-1639.1336

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Genius is the world's biggest collection of song lyrics and crowdsourced musical knowledge. Join Us. (n.d.). Retrieved November 22, 2016, from http://genius.com/

 

Grammys Insist Streaming-Related Rule Change Wasn't Inspired By Chance the Rapper. (n.d.). Retrieved November 22, 2016, from http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/grammys/7534033/grammys-streaming-rule- chance-the-rapper
 

Kirkland, D. E. (2008). You Must Learn": Promoting Hip-Hop Education. Youth Media Reporter, 2(1-6), 42-46.

 

Muhammad, K. R. (2015, 10). Don’t call it a comeback: A full return to hip-hop subculture in Chicago. Continuum, 29(6), 874-885. doi:10.1080/10304312.2015.1073681

 

Staff, F., & Barber, A. (n.d.). FSD Feature: Productivity & Social Activism behind Chance The Rapper’s ‘Coloring Book’. Retrieved November 22, 2016, from http://www.fakeshoredrive.com/2016/08/fsd-feature-productivity-social-activism-behind- chance-rappers-coloring-book.html/