“I think that’s our family’s way of showing disapproval,” Williams-Bennett says in a phone interview. He dropped out a week later, leading to a rift between the aspiring rapper and his father. Chance enrolled at Harold Washington College in Chicago.
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He spent his high-school evenings perfecting his craft: He performed slam poetry, recorded for free at the local library, attended open mic nights and got deeper into the local arts scene where he met most of the members of his musical crew, Save Money, including rappers Vic Mensa and Kami De Chukwu and rap-rock collective Kids These Days.Īfter cutting a final exam for band practice, Chance was forced to earn his diploma online. “Kanye took me from a kid who listened to music to a kid who lived music,” he says. But Chance was always more interested in the arts, performing in talent shows from his pre-school days through high school at Chicago’s esteemed Jones College Prep.Ĭhance knew he wanted to be a rapper after hearing Kanye West’s 2004 debut The College Dropout at age 10. Secretary of Labor, dreamed that his son might one day hold office. Williams-Bennett, who is now a regional representative to the U.S.
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His dad, Ken Williams-Bennett, was a prominent presence in the city: He first served as an aide to former Chicago mayor Harold Washington and then worked for then-U.S. “I won’t ever know what Acid Rap would have sounded like if I’d never done acid.”Ĭhance grew up the older of two brothers in the middle-class neighborhood of West Chatham, an oasis in Chicago’s otherwise rough South Side. He specifically recalls one particular trip during which he vibed out to James Blake’s minimal “I Never Learnt to Share,” ultimately helping inspire Acid Rap standout track “Cocoa Butter Kisses.” “You’re more inquisitive,” he says of his experiences on what he deems to be a much-misunderstood drug. The mixtape’s woozy, psychedelic, outside-the-box sound might have something to do with all the acid Chance dropped during the recording process. Chance’s nasal vocal cadences call to mind Lil Wayne and Kendrick Lamar as he ruminates on the diagonal-cut grilled cheeses and Rugrats lunch boxes of his youth and demands an end to his hometown’s unremitting violence. Recorded in Chicago, with turns in New York and L.A., it encompasses a collage of genres – from jazz (“Acid Rain”) to ghettotech juke (“Good Ass Intro”) to soul (“Everybody’s Something”). But Acid Rap is the rapper’s real introduction to the wider world. His debut mixtape, 2011’s #10Day – written over a 10-day suspension from high school for smoking weed – made some waves among hip-hop fans in the know. “There’s still more time,” he says, “and still so many stages to Acid Rap.” But for now, he says he’s holding off signing with anyone. While there, he recorded new tracks and took business meetings with “nearly every major label,” including a sit-down with Epic Records CEO L.A. And it’s just the beginning.”Ĭhance, who is still technically unsigned, just returned from a five-day trip to Los Angeles. “Chance the Rapper is many things,” says the MC. “When you get pissed, promise you’re just gonna smoke again,” he says to riotous approval.Īlbum Review: Chance the Rapper, Acid RapĪ few days later, nursing a blunt on a sun-drenched rooftop on Chicago’s West Side, Chance explains how his personality can seem to switch up at such whiplash speed. He kicks quick, clever rhymes from his acclaimed new mixtape, Acid Rap, accompanied by manic, twerking dance moves. When he hits the stage, Chance transforms again, this time into a polished performer. Officially, Chance isn’t the headlining act, but the few thousand people crammed into the tent where he’s about to perform – most of whom appear to be legitimately geeking out over the rapper’s appearance – suggest otherwise. He’s completely silent, head down, eyes fixed, as he gets ready to take the stage at the college street festival that he’s playing tonight. Moments later, Chance (born Chancelor Bennett) is a different person. “I don’t know if I should eat this,” he deadpans. The 20-year-old rapper – dressed in a gray LDRS hoodie, black skinny jeans and mismatched plaid shoes – cracks jokes continuously, pausing only to accept a pot-brownie offering from two teenage fans giving him the thumbs-up through a clear glass window.
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On an unseasonably warm Friday evening in May, minutes before facing the biggest hometown crowd of his young career, Chance the Rapper races a skateboard around the barren downtown-Chicago office space that’s temporarily doubling as his dressing room.