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Chance the Rapper Will Always Be Proud of Acid Rap

In 2013, as new albums from Jay-Z, Drake, and Kanye topped the charts, a small mixtape you couldn’t even buy on iTunes became one of the year’s most talked about releases. Chance the Rapper ’s Acid Rap felt and sounded different from everything else on the market: An exuberant, introspective collection of rap songs drenched in soul, jazz, and gospel influences. Though much of the subject matter skewed serious, the Chicago native’s playfulness shined through: His grizzly, charming sing-song delivery; his scattered yells of “AHHH!” over a honky-tonk piano in “Juice,” that school-house taunt refrain on “Nana.” Listening to Acid Rap felt like cutting class with your best friend, and with features from the likes of Vic Mensa, Twista, Childish Gambino, and Action Bronson, it turned Chance the Rapper into the biggest indie rapper in America.

Ten years later, much has changed for Chance, hip-hop, and America at large. The 30-year-old rapper, who is currently embarking on a mini-tour honoring Acid Rap ’s anniversary, admits rap doesn’t sound nearly as fun as it used to. “I think if I had to blame it on something, I would just say times is hard,” he told me for a recent episode of Into It . But Acid Rap still remains a classic, and Chance is excited about where rap is headed as well as the legacy of his breakthrough mixtape and the days before he became a star. “Right after Acid Rap dropped, I was just running around trying to do small shows or people’s little local radio stations,” he recalls. “Whatever I could do to make it get heard.” Clearly, it worked.

Listen to the full interview from Into It below or read on for an excerpt of our conversation.

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Where was Chance ten years ago when Acid Rap was released? What did your life look like?  I mean, I didn’t have money, but I also didn’t have kids. I was living at my parents’ house and just trying to make this dream work. This was my second mixtape under the moniker Chance the Rapper. And I had dropped a mixtape the year before this called 10 Day . That was all about me getting suspended from high school and that landed me on a national tour with Donald Glover as an opener. Now, nobody in the crowd knew who I was. I think the preparation of that tour put me in the right mindset as a performer to really push to make this mixtape heard. And then I got picked up to go on tour with Mac Miller, who was incredibly impactful to my career and to my understanding of the industry. And soon after that I did my first tour, and that was when I first made some money. I know I keep talking about money like it doesn’t matter, but if you asked me about ten years ago—

It mattered. —It mattered a lot.

Acid Rap really captured this youthful exuberance. Not every song was happy, but a lot of it was and there was this energy that crackled.  For me, what was so cool was that it was real underground. Music was still very heavy on the iTunes side. This is before any large-scale streaming service. Around that time I was trying to shop for deals, and it just wasn’t really working out the way that I wanted to. Not that people weren’t trying to sign me, but they wasn’t trying to give me no control. We put together this mixtape with my own money. And the way it spread was just so different. Like, SoundCloud, DatPiff, LiveMixtapes.

I had the DatPiff app on my iPhone just to listen to it. A lot of people have that story. The music felt like it belonged to people. It felt like it was something you had to go outside of your typical iTunes or buying a CD from FYE or Walmart or Best Buy. You had to find it. Somebody had to tell you about it.

When did you know that Acid Rap was blowing up? I did a listening party the day of the release in Chicago where I rapped a couple of the songs but played the mixtape all the way through. And I remember there being a line around two blocks long of people waiting outside. The difference between that listening party and the listening party from my 10 Day mixtape, it was just so different. I went on tour in Europe that same year in 2013. I got two really cool offers. I got brought to do a few dates with Eminem in Ireland.

Eminem in Ireland surrounded by whites. Yeah, I was in Dublin, surrounded by whites, and it was a lot. We did this place called Slane Castle. It was 90,000 people. I went from opening for Mac Miller and Donald Glover for 2,500-cap rooms in America where I was kind of still struggling, to going to foreign countries with Eminem. Macklemore took me on in the same year. I was playing these sold-out rooms where the entire audience didn’t really know who I was, but in a lot of cases didn’t even speak English. And so, there was a really big barrier between me being recognized for this body of work that I put out that I was seeing going crazy in the States, but being stuck overseas. When I came back, I did my own little mini tour. It started off as 35 dates. It got extended to 50 dates. I did every major and small market around the U.S. and all sold-out shows.

Is that when you knew the album blew up? Yes, that was the longest answer you probably ever got. But, that’s when I felt it.

What’s your favorite song on Acid Rap ? Probably “Acid Rain,” just because it’s the most pure to me. It’s a long single-verse song with no hook that’s just me rapping very transparently and talking about issues that I had with drugs, with some of my closest friends, with the PTSD after I saw my friend get killed. It was a lot of stuff that I would not normally talk about so plainly in my music.

In spite of having these songs that deal with PTSD and drug use, the vibe in Acid Rap is often joyful and fun. When I look at Acid Rap and Coloring Book together and compare it to stuff I hear now, it seems like none of the biggest men in rap are as happy or having as much fun as you were on those albums. I feel like women in rap right now are having fun. But the men seem sad. Is it fair to say that? Yeah, I don’t think they’re happy. What a lot of us experience is melancholy, sadness, displacement, poor relationships, poverty, attacks on your humanity or your masculinity … It’s a lot. I was lucky to make it off being different, but a lot of people make it off of a different angle of the same shit. I feel for niggas. I feel bad. I was just watching a video on Instagram, somebody I know from Chicago and they was like, “Why you think we be in the club feeling some type of way, feeling on edge just because we listening to fucking four hours of murder music about the most despair you ever seen?” Most of us have lost somebody to violence or witnessed some type of violence that scarred us. I don’t think that there’s this master plan from all these niggas that made it out of poverty to continue this fucked-up cycle of producing dark, angry music. I think that the powers that be are a lot of times in control of what direction we’re going.

Can you put your finger on when an actual shift began or what caused it? I think shit is just worse. In terms of public safety, even the weather. The Earth is not as lit as it was in 2013. I think if I had to blame it on something, I would just say times is hard. Everybody is just rapping what they know.

I want to talk a bit about Kanye’s influence on you, especially at the time of Acid Rap . How was his work affecting the way you made that album? I mean, “Good Ass Intro” is a direct sample from the intro to a Kanye West mixtape that came out when I was in high school called the Get Well Soon mixtape. And then, there’s six interpolations towards the end of the record, and those are a lot of interpolations of Kanye-produced beats for Common or Twista or himself. But since ‘04, I’ve been extremely influenced by Ye’s music and his art.

One of the things I think of a lot in your journey in the last ten years since Acid Rap was entering this space where as a Black man in hip-hop who is famous, you got to be a little outspoken on politics. But I’ve heard less from you on that front these days. What has been your philosophy in the last ten years about how much you dabble in those spaces?  I think before, my understanding of politics was through the governing bodies and systems in the United States. I’ve just, I guess kind of become a little, I don’t know.

A little what? Jaded? It’s not even jaded. It’s just like I don’t believe in that shit anymore.

I want to unpack that. Are you saying you don’t believe in electoral politics anymore to effect change, or are you saying something else? I’m also like a whole fucking public figure, so I don’t want to dissuade anybody from whatever it is that they believe is important. And we Black, so it’s a very big deal for us to be able to have the right to vote and to vote without being terrorized.

I think I’ve gotten a better understanding of my identity and placement in the world outside of notoriety or money because in certain spaces, neither one of those matter when somebody can tell that I’m Black. I think Black folks, our natural destiny in the near future is to collectivize and create a more homogenous body. We attach so many other categories to our identity that kind of keep us splintered. I think the only time that we’re allowed to be Black people is when we’re the Black vote. And again, I’m not trying to dissuade anybody from voting or from making their voice heard or any shit like that. I’m very focused on politics. I’m just focused on it in a different space.

This is the most guarded I’ve heard you in this conversation. I told myself I wasn’t even going to talk about shit like that anymore. To tell you that I don’t want to talk about it, I got to give a long explanation.

I feel like when you talk about politics, you are so much more aware of who’s hearing it and how they’re hearing it, and you’re more guarded on that stuff than you are on just the music. Would it be fair to say that? It’s one of the more important things that I could talk about. And there’s a great sense of like, responsibility. I think any time I get a question about it, the first thing that happens is my brain fills up with all the things that I’m mad about. The second thing that happens is I start to think about how I could be misquoted or misunderstood. And then I try and speak on it with both parts of my brain working at the same time, and it comes off as guarded.

I’m not even as worried about a quote being misunderstood. I’m more worried about myself being misunderstood because a quote misdirects everybody. That’s just the game that we play though.

It’s the 50th anniversary of hip-hop. You’re seeing all the press coverage and everyone’s talking about the history and where it came from. But, I’m not seeing as much conversation about homophobia, or sexism, or the glorification of extreme wealth in hip-hop. Do you think our conversation about hip-hop turning 50 is as critical as it should be? That’s a good question. I think it’s always a good time to have a conversation about how we could be better. But I also think that there’s a time and space for celebration. Hip-hop is the dominating culture in terms of fashion, music, and art. It mobilizes all of the capitalist movements, advertising, and marketing. All of these things are using our car to get there. It’s like our car is supposed to have us in the front seat driving, and we’re just still in the back seat arguing.

We do have a huge problem with homophobia. We do have a huge problem with sexism. We do have a huge problem with misogyny, with violence, with over-romanticizing extreme wealth and with a lot of stuff. I hate to sound like I keep flip-flopping, but hip-hop is a reflection of the world. It’s not just a promotional tool. It’s also what people are experiencing and what people grew up understanding. We do need to fix hip-hop to fix the people, but like, that’s what I’m tasked with I think.

Do you think things are getting better at all on any of those fronts? Because, I’m not sure. I’m going to say no. So I started this festival this year called the Black Star Line Festival, and the goal of it is to create free weeklong activations in different Black countries where we can collectivize and share ideas. I think one of the biggest hurdles in this is that a lot of Black countries outside of the U.S. demonize or flat out have made being gay illegal. And so, a big, big thing that I’ve been trying to figure out is how can I collectivize people under this umbrella of Blackness whilst also eliminating some of those other identifiers, like the division of nationality or the division of religion, or most importantly, the division of gender and sexuality. It’s a tough thing because I’m also an outsider. As much as we centralize ourselves as Americans, I’m a foreigner in all these spaces.

We should define this festival more clearly for folks who might not know what’s going on.  I had some conversations with my grandma, and she was just teaching me about the global Black identity. After learning more about Marcus Garvey and his efforts to create Black mobility, I realized that I was never given an opportunity to tour Africa. The only show that I ever did on the continent was in South Africa, which is typically where we go when bigger artists go over there. But, I’ve been in every nook and cranny in Europe. I’ve played Asia, Australia, South America. But, in order for me to get to West Africa, I would have to put on my own concert. In going to Ghana, I realized that the infrastructure and appetite existed for not only me to play a show, but so many other artists. We ended up putting it on this past year with myself, T-Pain, Erykah Badu, Dave Chappelle, Vic Mensa, Tobe Nwigwe, Jeremih. It really put a better understanding and a new identity on all of us where we don’t have to be Black Americans, we don’t have to be Ghanaians, we don’t have to be Africans.

It’s about the collective. Exactly, we got to be brothers and sisters.

That seems so not what the predominant message of American hip-hop is right now. Well, it’s also like every once in a while, you see a new white rapper or Hispanic rapper that pops up and they’re doing a cartoonish, buffoonish interpolation. They’re blowing up, and they have the budget to market and the money to pay for Instagram posts. That creates a snowball effect of more people feeling like that’s what it is to be hip-hop, that’s what it is to be Black. So it’s like we are all in this cycle.

I mean, I listen to a lot of violent music. I like violent music. But, the fact that that’s the most successful music out there is not necessarily by our design. I don’t think that’s Black people’s goal. I live in Chicago. When you asked me about a turning point, Chicago changed everything. There was a wave of music that came out right around the same time as Acid Rap . I hope that this doesn’t come off as giving blame, but the popularization of what we had going on here definitely changed the landscape.

You’re talking about drill music. Yeah. Drill music specifically in Chicago, blowing up the way it did, influenced the entire world. There’s Italian drill music, there’s Chinese drill music.

Listen, there’s a long tale of Chief Keef to be told. Yeah, and that’s what I’m saying and that’s what I don’t want, I can’t blame Keef …

This is the life he lived. He was speaking his truth. Literally. For me, I think that if we are to move towards upper mobility, towards liberation, towards acceptance, towards self-love, it’s going to come through our tool that’s lasted 50 years. Hip-hop didn’t just last because we let it last. The same shit that happened to all the people that Elvis fucked over and the Beach Boys fucked over, that happened in hip-hop. That’s happening today in hip-hop. Hip-hop has survived, and I think it has a divine reason to because it is our tool for Black liberation. It’s just waiting on its right moment.

What I’m hearing is you received a bit of an education since Acid Rap was released, on what hip-hop means, what Blackness means, and how an artist like Chance the Rapper fits into that. What do you think has been the biggest shift in terms of the way you think about hip-hop and Blackness since Acid Rap was released ten years ago? I look at it all as one day. Acid Rap was yesterday to me. I also did a lot of drugs, so I have terrible memory-loss issues. But, I would say the biggest thing that changed me was a phone conversation I had with my grandma. She got my daughter Kensli some kids’ books. One on Juneteenth, which I didn’t think was too heavy, but still a little bit much for a 5-year-old. But also, there was one on the Tulsa race riot. And so, I called her and I was like, “Hey, you know I love you, but what is this? Do you really want me to read these to her?” And she just really taught my ass. What she was saying was that my parents’ generation, people born in the late ‘60s, mid-’60s, had to be taught as a means of survival that racism had died out, that people don’t see color, and the effects of Jim Crow and and the burning of Black cities were all solved so that their kids weren’t running around getting they ass beat in the streets. Because, they had witnessed firsthand how vicious and violent the U.S. as a society would be to those people. She told me that she was very proud of the changes that she was seeing out of my generation and this information age that we live in where people are actually allowed to know the truth. So I think her telling me the importance of imparting that information on my daughter made me realize how important it is that I do that education for myself.

What advice do you wish your grandmother would’ve called you with the day before Acid Rap was released? I remember my grandma said this crazy prayer over me when I was working on Acid Rap where she said, “I prayed to God that everything that you do that is not like Him will fail and crumble.” And I was like, “Did you just put a curse on me? I’m trying to get on. I’m trying to make it.”

That’s some Black grandmother ish right there. Right? I think she would say the same prayer. I’m in the same boat. If I was to talk to myself ten years ago, I would just say, “I’m proud of you. Keep doing everything you’re doing the same way. You’re fearless, you’re dedicated, you’re honest, and do what you’re doing.”

This interview has been edited and condensed.

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Chance the Rapper Announces ‘Acid Rap’ 10th Anniversary Concert

The show will be held in August at the United Center in Chicago.

By Carl Lamarre

Carl Lamarre

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Chance the Rapper

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Chance is currently piecing together his new album,  Star Line Gallery , an immersion between art, music and cinematography. “What I’ve been trying to do — and learning to do — is collaborate with visual artists in the process of making my songs,” Chance the Rapper revealed on  The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon  in March. “[I’m] having each individual song have its own visible, like physical, tangible, piece of art that goes along with it.”

The Grammy award winner released “Yah Know” in 2022 and released a music video for the song. He bought a painting from Chicago artist Mia Lee that corresponds with the record, he told Fallon. “She’s somebody I grew up with who’s just amazingly, immensely talented,” he shared. “She inspires me. We made the record ‘Yah Know’ at the end of last year, and traveled together to Ghana, and just like taught each other a lot of things. It came out of this conversation and collaboration, that’s how this crazy song with a lot of meaning and a lot of history came to be.”

Chance the Rapper is also currently a coach on NBC’s The Voice.

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Chance the Rapper Celebrates Acid Rap Ten Year Anniversary

Acid Rap  Concert Announced for Chicago’s United Center – August 19, 2023

Acid rap  single “juice” coming to all streaming platforms this weekend.

Today,  Chance the Rapper  kicks off the festivities to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of his record-breaking, Billboard-charting mixtape  Acid Rap . Over the next few months, Chance will honor the project through a series of can’t-miss live events, pop-ups, merch drops, and special music releases. Chance also announces his return to  Chicago ’s  United Center  where he will headline an  Acid Rap Ten Year Anniversary Show on August 19 , produced by Live Nation –– marking his first performance at the venue since 2019. The show will also feature rapper and record producer  Saba  as support.

TICKETS:  Tickets and VIP packages will be available starting with an Artist presale beginning Wednesday, April 26 at 10am local time. Additional presales will run throughout the week ahead of the general onsale beginning Friday, April 28 at 10am local time at  livenation.com .

Chance the Rapper forever changed music history with his landmark mixtape  Acid Rap  and 10 years later it remains the face of independent hip hop. To celebrate  Acid Rap ‘s 10th anniversary, “ Juice ” — the single that first introduced fans to Chance and  Acid Rap  — is finally reverted to its original glory and format, available worldwide for the first time ever across streaming services this Sunday, April 30.

Purchase the exclusive Acid Rap Ten Year anniversary merchandise at  shop.chancestuff.com  on April 30th.

Pre-Save  Acid Rap  with “Juice” HERE :  http://itunes.apple.com/album/id1680825279?ls=1&app=itunes

Upon its original April 30, 2013 release,  Acid Rap  was heralded as “Best New Music” by Pitchfork and Rolling Stone called it one of the “Best Mixtapes of 2013.” Across fourteen dynamic tracks, Chance’s lyrical prowess shines bright as he spits heavyweight bars over psychedelic, soulful, juke-filled beats, encapsulating the sound and feel of Chicago. Top Chicago-based and national artists including Vic Mensa, Childish Gambino, Twista, Action Bronson, BJ The Chicago Kid, Ab-Soul, and Noname lend their talents to the project. In 2019,  Acid Rap  hit DSPs and catapulted to #5 on the Billboard Hot 200, cementing Chance the Rapper’s role as a voice of a generation.

2023 is an exciting year for Chance as he prepares to release his next body of work,  Star Line Gallery . The project sees Chance intertwine the worlds of art, music, and cinematography through a series of interdisciplinary works in collaboration with fine artists from The Continent and The Diaspora. The resulting pieces redefine the notion of ‘album art’ and are compelling conversations and meditations on Black life.  Star Line Gallery  works “Child of God” (collaboration with Gabonese artist and painter Naïla Opiangah), “A Bar About A Bar” (collaboration with Chicago-based painter Nikko Washington and filmmaker Troy Gueno), “The Highs & The Lows” feat. Joey Bada$$ (collaboration with Gabonese photographer Yannis Davy Guibinga), and “YAH Know” (collaboration with Chicago-based visual artist Mía Lee) have been showcased at art institutions around the world including Expo Chicago, Art Basel, Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA), The Art Institute of Chicago, and Los Angeles’ Museum Of Contemporary Art (MOCA).

Fans can also catch Chance the Rapper on NBC’s  The Voice , where he has joined the current season (23) as a coach.

Acid Rap  Tracklist

• “Good Ass Intro” (featuring BJ the Chicago Kid)
• “Pusha Man” (featuring Nate Fox)
• “Paranoia” (featuring Lili K. and Nosaj Thing)
• “Cocoa Butter Kisses” (featuring Vic Mensa and Twista)
• “Juice”
• “Lost” (featuring Noname)
• “Everybody’s Something” (featuring Saba and BJ the Chicago Kid)
• “Interlude (That’s Love)”
• “Favorite Song” (featuring Childish Gambino)
• “NaNa” (featuring Action Bronson)
• “Smoke Again” (featuring Ab-Soul)
• “Acid Rain”
• “Chain Smoker”
• “Everything’s Good (Good Ass Outro)”

About Live Nation Entertainment 

Live Nation Entertainment (NYSE: LYV) is the world’s leading live entertainment company comprised of global market leaders: Ticketmaster, Live Nation Concerts, and Live Nation Sponsorship. For additional information, visit  www.livenationentertainment.com

Chance the Rapper

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Mike Jones |  [email protected]

Jerome Ware |  [email protected]

Teryn Payne |  [email protected]   

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Maya Sarin |  [email protected]

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Haven’t gotten out to a concert this summer?

Now’s your opportunity: Chance the Rapper is hitting the road to celebrate the ten-year anniversary of his seminal mixtape, “Acid Rap,” and we found some of the most affordable tickets on the market.

However, if you want to see Chance this year, you won’t have many, ahem , chances.

The multi-hyphenate performer is performing in just three cities this August and September as of now.

The “No Problem” rapper will drop into his hometown Chicago’s United Center on Aug. 19, then Brooklyn’s Barclays Center on Aug. 26 and finally Inglewood, CA’s Kia Forum on Sept. 21.

Don’t have your tickets yet? No problem.

At time of publication, we found prices as low as $40 before fees on Vivid Seats.

If you want to get closer to the action, floor seats can be found for $129 before fees .

Need more information?

Keep reading, Hip-Hop heads.

We’ve got everything you need to know and more about Chance The Rapper’s “Acid Rap” anniversary gigs below.

All prices listed above are subject to fluctuation.

Chance The Rapper 2023 Tour Schedule

A complete calendar including all tour dates, venues and links to the cheapest tickets available for all shows can be found here:

(Note: The New York Post confirmed all above prices at the publication time. All prices are in US dollars, subject to fluctuation and include additional fees at checkout .)

Vivid Seats is a verified secondary market ticketing platform, and prices may be higher or lower than face value, depending on demand. 

They offer a 100% buyer guarantee that states your transaction will be safe and secure and your tickets will be delivered prior to the event.

About Chance the Rapper

The 30-year-old Chicago native has made a global impact with several chart-topping hits, including “Same Drugs,” “Cocoa Butter Kisses” and “No Problem.” He dropped a verse on several other artists’ tracks; among the most notable are DJ Khaled and Justin Bieber’s “No Brainer” and Nico Segal’s “Sunday Candy.”

He has won numerous awards for his music, too. Over the past decade, the Rapper has nabbed three Grammy Awards, three BET Awards, two BET Hip Hop Awards, two iHeartRadio Music Awards and a Soul Train Music Award.

Chance is also a respected producer. He helped produce Bieber’s album “JB6” as well as DJ Khaled’s album “Grateful,” Skrillex’s “Recess” and more.

Most recently, the singer-songwriter passed along his skills to a new generation of talent on this past season of “The Voice,” alongside fellow coaches Blake Shelton, Kelly Clarkson and Niall Horan. He will not be returning for Season 24 of the hit NBC show but will take his chair once again for Season 25 next year.

Hip-Hop tours in 2023

While Chance doesn’t have many shows to choose from on his 2023 tour calendar, many big-name rappers do.

Here are just five of our favorites coming up in next few months.

•  Drake

•  Run The Jewels

•  50 Cent with Busta Rhymes

•  LL Cool J with Big Boi, Salt-N-Pepa and more

•  Lil Baby

Plus, you won’t want to miss the star-studded Hip Hop 50th Anniversary shows at  Madison Square Garden  on Sept. 15.

Check out our list of the  52 biggest tours in 2023 here  to find out who else is on the road.

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Chance the Rapper relives ‘Acid Rap’ era with emotional United Center blowout

Saba, dlow, twista and vic mensa were among the collaborators joining the chicago favorite in celebrating the breakthrough mixtape’s 10th anniversary..

Chance the Rapper performs during the 10th anniversary “Acid Rap” concert on Saturday night at the United Center.

Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times

Many of the fans arriving to the United Center on Saturday night for Chance the Rapper’s first performance at the venue since 2019 came wearing Chance gear, both official and bootleg, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of his breakthrough project, “Acid Rap.” His face was everywhere.

About 10 minutes before opener Saba hit the stage, a larger-than-life, Antron fleece Chance mascot walked out into Section 122 in khaki overalls and a khaki-colored signature “3” cap, guided by a volunteer from Chance the Rapper’s nonprofit, SocialWorks.

Saba’s opening set bristled with his characteristic energy. He glided across the stage for what at times felt like a joyous pep rally.

Saba performs an opening set ahead of Chance the Rapper at the United Center.

“It’s an occasion,” the West Side native exclaimed, “They let the West Side into the United Center!”

Backed by DJ Dam Dam, his set pulled liberally from his critically acclaimed “Bucket List Project” and “Care For Me” as well as one unreleased song (an ode to “Summertime Chi”), produced by Chicago native No I.D. In his final song, the longtime Chance collaborator and friend brought up the rest of his fellow Pivot Gang for a rendition of their single “Aang.”

Saba performs at United Center ahead of Chance the Rapper.

DJ Oreo came out next, supplying a showcase of the rich Black culture of Chicago. After introducing short cameos by rappers Mello Buckzz and King Louie, Oreo paid tribute to the late DJ Casper, adding that without Casper, there would not have been the DLow Shuffle. He introduced dancer and rapper DLow to the stage, who immediately began to “bop’” the footwork-rooted dance craze that he helped make famous.

Chance the Rapper reaches for the rafters at the United Center during his concert Saturday night.

As Chance’s set began, he was backed by a tight, contemporary gospel-informed band including Nico Segal on trumpet, Peter CottonTale on keys and Stix on drums (all collaborators who worked with Chance on “Acid Rap,” and on many projects since). Rounding out the ensemble were a handful of background vocalists and an electric bassist.

Chance pounced onto the stage in a custom Acid Rap Blackhawks Jersey (No. 10, naturally), and tore into a high-energy performance of “No Problems” amid an explosion of ticker tape and pyrotechnics.

• Chance the Rapper exhibit showcases psychedelic journey, 10-year anniversary of ‘Acid Rap’
• Love, peace and ‘Soul Train’: On Aug. 17, 1970, the ‘hippest trip in America’ started in Chicago

After performing fan favorites including “All Night” and “Blessings,” he took a moment to share that “this the first time my daughters are seeing me perform on this scale in Chicago.”

It was clear that this was much more than a concert to Chance; it was more like a class reunion.

After noting how the “Acid Rap” project was a pivotal moment in the lives of both himself and his community of collaborators, he divulged that he doesn’t perform many of the songs from the mixtape anymore because “that part of my life is over.” He continued, “A lot of you guys found me through ‘Acid Rap.’ And so, it’ll always be a part of me, but I’ve learned a lot in life in that time.”

Confetti rains down on fans at the “Acid Rap” 10th anniversary concert on Saturday night at the United Center.

Saba returned to the stage for an inspired medley of “Everybody’s Something” from the project, blended with “Angels” (from “Coloring Book”), both of which he was featured on.

Longtime collaborator and friend Noname (who on Aug. 11 released “Sundial,” her first album in five years) popped onto the stage for “Lost,” a song on “Acid Rap” that introduced many fans to the soon-to-be star. Chance then introduced “Smoke Again,” and the audience took his suggestion literally: At least a few joints circulated around the stadium.

“Cocoa Butter Kisses” brought out original featured artists Twista and Vic Mensa, bringing down the house. And after a rousing version of “Chain Smoker,” a blast of paper confetti shot out toward the sold-out crowd, giving the stadium the look of a gargantuan snow globe.

A reel of childhood home movies appeared on a big screen behind Chance as he hinted at one more song. Suddenly, his family appeared, large sunflower-studded bouquets in tow, and his father, Ken Bennett, spoke to his son’s impact beyond Chicago.

“You are a great example, son, of how to do positive things, and be courageous and careful for others. We couldn’t be more proud of you,” Bennett said. Applause swelled from the crowd.

Chance, clearly overcome with emotion, responded: “I really can’t rap anymore, I just love y’all and appreciate y’all.”

His voice broke. “Thank you so much. Good night, y’all.”

Peter CottonTale began to play the characteristic gospel chords of a church benediction as everyone left the stage.

There were no encores. And so concluded just another 10-year class reunion.

• No Problems
• Good Ass Intro
• Pushaman/Paranoia
• Everybody’s Something/Angels medley (featuring Saba)
• Medley of Sunday Candy/D.R.A.M. Sings Special/Melodies From Heaven (Kirk Franklin cover) medley
• Lost (featuring Noname)
• I’m The One (DJ Khaled cover)
• Medley of Highs and the Lows/ Doo Wop (That Thing) (Lauryn Hill cover) / My Boo (Alicia Keys and Usher cover) / To Zion (Lauryn Hill cover)
• Wonderful Everyday: Arthur
• Ultralight Beam
• Favorite Song
• Smoke Again
• Cocoa Butter Kisses (featuring Twista and Vic Mensa)
• Chain Smoker
• Interlude (That’s Love)

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Chance the Rapper With Special Guest Saba

Chance the Rapper kicks off the festivities to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of his record-breaking, Billboard-charting mixtape Acid Rap. Over the next few months, Chance will honor the project through a series of can’t-miss live events, pop-ups, merch drops, and special music releases. Chance also announces his return to Chicago’s United Center where he will headline an Acid Rap Ten Year Anniversary Show on August 19, produced by Live Nation –– marking his first performance at the venue since 2019. The show will also feature rapper and record producer Saba as support.

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What is the location of the Uber Zone? The new Uber Zone at the United Center is located on the corner of Madison Street and Wood Street. Fans will enter and exit through the sidewalk entrance located on Madison Street and cars will enter the lot by turning into the Uber Zone from Madison Street. Cars will exit on Warren Blvd.

What are the hours of operation? On event days, the Uber Zone is open two hours prior to games, concerts and events and will remain open up to one hour after each event. On non-event days, the Uber Zone will be closed and Uber rides will be dropped off near the corner of Madison Street and Wood Street outside of the Uber Zone.

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Chance the Rapper Announces Acid Rap 10th Anniversary Concert

By Jazz Monroe

Chance the Rapper is celebrating the 10th anniversary of his breakout mixtape, Acid Rap , with a concert at Chicago’s United Center on August 19. More events, pop-ups, merchandise, and music will follow, starting with the first-time release on streaming services of “ Juice ” from the mixtape. That will arrive this Sunday, April 30.

As well as the anniversary celebrations, Chance will spend the year gearing up to release Star Line Gallery , his follow-up to 2019’s The Big Day , according to a press release. He is also a coach on the current sesason of The Voice .

Read about Acid Rap in Pitchfork’s rundown of “ The 200 Best Albums of the 2010s ” and about Chance’s journey in “ The 200 Most Important Artists of Pitchfork’s First 25 Years .”

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Chance the Rapper Announces More Acid Rap 10th Anniversary Concerts

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The post Chance the Rapper Announces More Acid Rap 10th Anniversary Concerts appeared first on Consequence .

Chance the Rapper has added concerts in Brooklyn and Los Angeles to his celebration of the 10-year anniversary of his breakout mixtape, Acid Rap .

The two new shows will take place on August 26th at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center and on September 21st at Los Angeles’ Kia Forum. Chance previously announced a hometown show at Chicago’s United Center scheduled for August 19th. See his full tour schedule below.

Tickets go on sale Friday, May 5th at 10:00 a.m. local time via Ticketmaster , with a Live Nation pre-sale occurring one day earlier on Thursday, May 4th (use access code ICONIC ).

Once tickets are on sale, you can also find them at StubHub , where orders are 100% guaranteed through StubHub’s FanProtect program. StubHub is a secondary market ticketing platform, and prices may be higher or lower than face value, depending on demand.

This past weekend, Chance shared a 10th anniversary edition of Acid Rap on streaming services — complete with the original version of “Juice,” which previously wasn’t available due to sample clearance issues. Stream it below.

Get Chance the Rapper Tickets Here

Chance last released his long-awaited debut album, The Big Day , back in 2019.

Chance the Rapper 2023 Tour Dates: 06/10 – Milwaukee, WI @ Escape from Wiscansin Fest 07/30 – Napa Valley, CA @ Blue Note Jazz Festival 08/19 – Chicago, IL @ United Center 08/26 – Brooklyn, NY @ Barclays Center 09/21 – Inglewood, CA @ Kia Forum

Acid Rap (10th Anniversary) [Complete Edition] Artwork:

Acid Rap (10th Anniversary) [Complete Edition] Tracklist: 01. Good Ass Intro (feat. BJ the Chicago Kid) 02. Pusha Man (feat. Nate Fox) 03. Paranoia (feat. Lili K. and Nosaj Thing) 04. Cocoa Butter Kisses (feat. Vic Mensa and Twista) 05. Juice 06. Lost (feat. Noname) 07. Everybody’s Something (feat. Saba and BJ the Chicago Kid) 08. Interlude (That’s Love) 09. Favorite Song (feat. Childish Gambino) 10. NaNa (feat. Action Bronson) 11. Smoke Again (feat. Ab-Soul) 12. Acid Rain 13. Chain Smoker 14. Everything’s Good (Good Ass Outro)

Chance the Rapper Announces More Acid Rap 10th Anniversary Concerts Eddie Fu

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Chance the Rapper Is Having a Huge Hometown Concert for This Major Anniversary

The Season 23 Voice Coach is celebrating his groundbreaking mix tape.

How to Watch

Watch  The Voice Mondays and Tuesdays at 8/7c on NBC and next day on Peacock.  

Calling all  Acid Rap  fans,  Chance the Rapper  is returning to his Chicago beginnings for a special 10-year anniversary concert of the breakout mixtape that skyrocketed him to fame. 

Chance has recently been rocking it in the  red chair as a Season 23 Coach  on  The Voice , guiding his team of aspiring artists as they navigate the hurdles of the competition and music industry overall. Team Chance is a talented crew, but years  before the razzle-dazzle of fame  and NBC singing competitions,  the Voice Coach was self-releasing mixtapes  that had the masses moving and grooving. 

Chance earned widespread recognition with his 2013 mixtape  Acid Rap , a 14-track psychedelic hip-hop masterpiece that features collaborators like Childish Gambino, Vic Mensa, and Twista, to name just a few. Chance leveraged his lack of a record label to work with dozens of talented artists. The mixtape was transformative for many indie musicians at the time, and earned Chance a nomination for Best Mixtape at the 2013 BET Hip Hop Awards. Rolling Stone voted Acid Rap as the #1 mixtape release of 2013, and #26 in albums for the year.

Millions of streams and a decade later,  Chance is looking back  at his beginnings by celebrating the 10th anniversary of  Acid Rap  with a night of throwback jams .  Read on to find out more details.

When and where is Chance the Rapper's  Acid Rap  10-Year Anniversary concert?

According to Billboard , the 10-Year Anniversary show will take place in Chance's hometown of Chicago at the United Center on Saturday, August 19. Tickets for the explosive set can be purchased on the Live Nation  website . 

Acid Rap  features bops like "Cocoa Butter Kisses," "Favorite Song," and the widely-hailed "Juice." In honor of the milestone achievement, Chance is releasing "Juice" on streaming services on Sunday, April 30 to get fans pumped.

Look How Many Grammys Chance the Rapper Has Won or Been Nominated For

Chance is currently spearheading his second studio album ,  Star Line Gallery,  which he is crafting to be a testament to artistry, embracing artistic, cinematic, and musical influences. Instead of creating just one eye-catching piece of album artwork, Chance is showcasing 16 original pieces of artwork that accompany each track. Chance dropped the first single from the  Star Line Gallery , "Yah Know," in November 2022. 

“What I’ve been trying to do, and learning to do, is collaborate with visual artists in the process of making my songs,” the Season 23 Voice Coach said in March on  The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon . “[I’m] having each individual song have it's own visible, like physical, tangible, piece of art that goes along with it.”

In a  March interview with  TODAY , Chance gave some more details about the exciting release. 

“[I] met with some of the top contemporary artists, painters, sculptors — all types of different visual artists in the world, and kinda started creating connections overseas with artists,”  Chance explained.  “We basically came together to create new pieces … I think typically, as recording artists, we like make a bunch of songs, like 12 to 16 songs … this gives me a better opportunity to give each song their own identity and also be inspired by the artists from the inception of the idea.”

Watch Chance The Rapper on new episodes of  The Voice  Mondays at 8/7c and the next day on  Peacock .

• Chance The Rapper

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Chance The Rapper Took Over Chicago For Acid Rap’s 10 Year Anniversary With Sold Out Concert

Chance the Rapper  took the stage last night at the  United Center  for a monumental  sold-out  hometown show, commemorating the 10-year anniversary of his breakthrough mixtape  Acid Rap . The event drew thousands of excited fans, turning the arena into a celebration of music, memories, and milestones. Chance plans to bring the same exhilarating energy to the forthcoming anniversary shows at NYC’s Barclays Center (August 26) and LA’s Kia Forum (September 21). Marking a decade since its release,  Acid Rap  has become a cultural touchstone and a defining project in Chance’s career. The mixtape’s blend of introspective lyrics, inventive production, and a distinct Chicago sound left an indelible mark on the music industry, with it still remaining the face of independent hip hop. 

The United Center show was a visual and auditory feast, featuring a meticulously crafted setlist that traversed the musical journey of  Acid Rap . Chance the Rapper, known for his high-energy performances and signature style, delivered a captivating show that transcended mere entertainment. The stage design, light displays, and dynamic choreography served as a fitting backdrop to the mixtape’s thought-provoking and emotion-laden tracks. Other special guests included Vic Mensa, Twista, Noname, Saba, Oreo, Mello Buckzz, King Louie, D Low, the South Shore Drill Team, Goon Squad, Benny the Bull, and Tommy Hawk (The Blackhawks mascot).

Chance and  Acid Rap  have taken over Chicago this week, as Chance celebrates the landmark recording throughout his hometown. The festivities kicked off with a scavenger hunt across the city, where fans headed to some of Chance’s favorite indie stores ( View his spots here ) for an opportunity to obtain tickets to the sold-out United Center show.

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Chance the Rapper Announces More Acid Rap 10th Anniversary Concerts

At Brooklyn’s Barclays Center and Los Angeles' Kia Forum

Chance the Rapper has added concerts in Brooklyn and Los Angeles to his celebration of the 10-year anniversary of his breakout mixtape, Acid Rap .

The two new shows will take place on August 26th at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center and on September 21st at Los Angeles’ Kia Forum. Chance previously announced a hometown show at Chicago’s United Center scheduled for August 19th. See his full tour schedule below.

Tickets are available via StubHub , where orders are 100% guaranteed through StubHub’s FanProtect program. StubHub is a secondary market ticketing platform, and prices may be higher or lower than face value, depending on demand.

This past weekend, Chance shared a 10th anniversary edition of Acid Rap on streaming services — complete with the original version of “Juice,” which previously wasn’t available due to sample clearance issues. Stream it below.

Get Chance the Rapper Tickets Here

Chance last released his long-awaited debut album, The Big Day , back in 2019.

Chance the Rapper 2023 Tour Dates: 06/10 – Milwaukee, WI @ Escape from Wiscansin Fest 07/30 – Napa Valley, CA @ Blue Note Jazz Festival 08/19 – Chicago, IL @ United Center 08/26 – Brooklyn, NY @ Barclays Center 09/21 – Inglewood, CA @ Kia Forum

Acid Rap (10th Anniversary) [Complete Edition] Artwork:

Acid Rap (10th Anniversary) [Complete Edition] Tracklist: 01. Good Ass Intro (feat. BJ the Chicago Kid) 02. Pusha Man (feat. Nate Fox) 03. Paranoia (feat. Lili K. and Nosaj Thing) 04. Cocoa Butter Kisses (feat. Vic Mensa and Twista) 05. Juice 06. Lost (feat. Noname) 07. Everybody’s Something (feat. Saba and BJ the Chicago Kid) 08. Interlude (That’s Love) 09. Favorite Song (feat. Childish Gambino) 10. NaNa (feat. Action Bronson) 11. Smoke Again (feat. Ab-Soul) 12. Acid Rain 13. Chain Smoker 14. Everything’s Good (Good Ass Outro)

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Things to do | review: chance the rapper gets emotional at a soaring acid rap ten year anniversary show in chicago.

John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune

Chance the Rapper performs at the United Center on Aug. 19, 2023, in Chicago.

Chance the Rapper performs at the United Center on Aug. 19, 2023, in Chicago. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune)

Concertgoers raise their hands as Chance the Rapper performs at the United Center on Aug. 19, 2023, in Chicago.

Chance the Rapper takes the stage for a performance at the United Center on Aug. 19, 2023, in Chicago.

Concertgoers sing to the music of Chance the Rapper at the United Center on Aug. 19, 2023, in Chicago.

Chance the Rapper is framed by a photographer's arms as he performs at the United Center on Aug. 19, 2023, in Chicago.

Confetti falls on the audience as Chance the Rapper takes the stage for a performance at the United Center on Aug. 19, 2023, in Chicago.

Saba performs as the opening act for Chance the Rapper at the United Center on Aug. 19, 2023, in Chicago.

Chance the Rapper’s sold-out concert Saturday at the United Center ended in tears. The happy kind. Overcome with emotion after his family surprised him onstage with bouquets of flowers, the hometown hip hop pioneer waved off his band and told the crowd he would be unable to rap the final song.

It was that kind of night on the Near West Side, where the celebration of a 10-year-old mixtape turned into an uplifting affair that involved old friends, former collaborators and a combination of music, ideas and gratitude that dared imagine a better, more inclusive world than the one many of us inhabit.

The occasion functioned as the crowning event amid a week that featured several local Chance-themed experiences. A pop-up store, special exhibits at WNDR Museum and an in-person conversation at the Apple Store on Michigan Avenue served as preludes. Chance will soon play similar gigs in New York and Los Angeles.

Having kept a relatively low profile for the last few years, Chance is using the 10th anniversary of his most famous mixtape (“Acid Rap”) as both a springboard for a new, highly anticipated project — “Star Line Gallery,” which will reportedly blend art, sound and cinematography through interdisciplinary works and collaborations — and a reminder of his elevated status in a genre that seemingly evolves on a monthly basis.

This isn’t a new strategy. In efforts to preserve their relevance, older rock bands continue to commemorate milestone albums and tours. The trend has been far less common in hip hop. Chance, however, currently stands at a crossroads.

As recently as seven years ago, the Chicago native ruled the city and his music resonated across the country. He presided over a massive Coloring Day festival at then-U.S. Cellular Field. In the time since, the entrepreneur released just one album (“The Big Day,” 2019), a holiday mixtape and a handful of singles. The 30-year-old now faces the grown-up pressures of following up on a record met with lukewarm reactions and proving he can still innovate.

Indeed, for all of the looking back Chance did throughout the 95-minute set, he also considered the present and future. Despite playing only one original made since 2016 (“The Highs & The Lows”), the rapper born Chancelor Johnathan Bennett paused to deliver an extended monologue that attempted to put “Acid Rap” and its value into context.

Speaking from the heart, Chance spoke about what the concert meant to him and said it was the first time his daughters were seeing him live. He addressed the importance of “Acid Rap” from communal and personal perspectives. Yet he also got tough and removed the rose-colored lenses that often accompany excursions into the past.

“That part of my life is over,” he declared, before talking about how much he has grown and changed since making the mixtape and turning into a phenom who became a darling of the independent community. The combination of sincerity and finality instilled Chance’s messages with the impression that he views the anniversary concerts as definitive endpoints — the closing of a door so that another might open.

The weight of his direct statements, coupled with his effervescent energy and grateful demeanor, helped give the show the liberating sensation of an end-of-summer block party wherein all attendees remain safe from physical harm, insults, beefs, racism, worries and curfews — not impossible in Chance’s imagination or dreams.

Backed by his longtime Social Experiment colleagues (led by trumpeter Nico Segal and keyboardist Peter Cottontale), and augmented by a trio of backing vocalists, Chance envisioned places filled with warmth, fun and faith. He proudly repped Chicago in verse, imagery and shout-outs — as well as in his choice of guests. Opener Saba joined Chance on “Everybody’s Something” and “Angels”; fellow Chicago-born rappers Noname, Vic Mensa and Twista also contributed verses to select songs.

Recurrent gospel harmonies, R&B rhythms, pulsing beats and footwork grooves further tied a majority of the music to the city, the proud Black church traditions on its South and West sides, and the house culture that erupted in its underground clubs. Chance split his time between rapping and singing, and displayed a fascinating ability to switch tones, accents and tempos akin to a narrator who voices multiple characters in an adventure story. His ensemble possessed a similar knack for adaptation.

Chance halted one song without warning, added an extra chorus to another and segued into segments of Lauryn Hill fare without throwing anyone for a loop. A gliding rendition of Segal and company’s “Sunday Candy” that had the group holding court while Chance briefly hunted for the words? No problem. A loose reinterpretation (“Wonderful Everyday”) of the theme for the animated PBS series “Arthur” originally done by Ziggy Marley as “Believe in Yourself”? Apropos seeing how its primary refrain — “Every day, it could be wonderful” — matched Chance’s positive-minded ethos.

Yes, Chance entertained moments of skepticism (“All Night”), indulgence (“Smoke Again”) and empty-headed braggadocio (a cover of DJ Khaled’s “I’m the One”). He also punctuated a few tunes with pyrotechnics, confetti and smoke. But, to borrow from a phrase ingrained in hip hop code, he kept it real. He never acted above anyone in the audience, elevated himself as a celebrity or devolved into stereotype.

Whether bounding about in black pants, a Blackhawks jersey and his signature “3? baseball cap during the praise dance “Blessings,” or reflecting on high school, Michael Jackson and trying to be cool on the introspective “Acid Rain,” Chance came across as relatable and approachable. Those traits took on heightened significance again and again, particularly on “Paranoia” — a sobering streetwise Chicago dispatch that a decade removed from its creation still ripples with uncomfortable truths and unanswered questions — and piano-based “Same Drugs,” whose evolutionary themes telescoped beyond those concerning a relationship between two individuals.

Chance explored a range of feelings, ultimately landing on those surrounding love, joy, spiritualism and optimism. As his father told him onstage: “(You’re) a great example of how to do positive things.”

Chicago, America and hip hop at large would do well to follow his lead.

Bob Gendron is a freelance critic.

Setlist from the United Center Aug. 19, 2023:

“No Problem”

“All Night”

“Blessings”

“Good Ass Intro”

“Pusha Man”

“Paranoia”

“Everybody’s Something”

“Angels”

“D.R.A.M. Sings Special”

“Sunday Candy”

“Nana”

“Lost”

“Juice”

“I’m the One” (DJ Khaled cover)

“The Highs & The Lows”

“Doo Wop (That Thing)” into “To Zion” (Lauryn Hill medley)

“Wonderful Everyday” (Ziggy Marley cover)

“Ultralight Beam” (Kanye West cover)

“Favorite Song”

“Smoke Again”

“Acid Rain”

“Cocoa Butter Kisses”

“Same Drugs”

“Chain Smoker”

“Interlude (That’s Love)”

“Everything’s Good (Good Ass Outro)” (curtailed)

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After a ‘hectic’ few years, Chance the Rapper finds new life in a 10-year-old mixtape

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There was hardly a better time to be an aspiring rapper coming out of Chicago than 2012.

That year, label scouts began flocking to the city like never before, allured by Chief Keef’s thunderous “Finally Rich” mixtape, along with buzzing music by King Louie and Sasha Go Hard. While drill music ran the city, heading the left-of-center-scene was a squeaky-voiced talent named Chance the Rapper, who’d just turned a suspension from high school into a breakout mixtape, “10 Day.”

“[MTV2’s ‘Sucker Free’] did an episode in Chicago,” Chance recalled, speaking between hits of a vape pen at the Pendry West Hollywood. “Within a week, every label flying their reps to Chicago, trying to find the best drill artist and the best ‘alt’ artist. I, my friends, people I grew up with, anyone who’d started rapping in 2011 or 2012 were taking label meetings. A lot got signed.”

Famously, the man born Chancelor Bennett, now 30, would spurn the labels and go at it as an independent artist. In 2013, he released “Acid Rap,” a mixtape so potent that he proclaimed it would be your “favorite f— album” before the intro track had even finished. Over the ensuing 50 minutes of music, he backed up his claim, delivering soul-piercing wordplay centered on love, death and drugs over gospel-tinged production. The album was met with immediate critical acclaim, appearing on numerous year-end best-of lists; Pitchfork would rank it at No. 84 in its top 200 albums of the 2010s.

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Ten years after its release, Chance will bring the mixtape to the Kia Forum for an arena-size celebration, playing songs from “Acid Rap” along with some recent hits. The show, set for Thursday, will be a wholly Chicago affair — longtime collaborator Vic Mensa will open the night with a throwback performance of his own cult classic “Innanetape,” which turns 10 this month.

“We made ‘Innanetape’ and ‘Acid Rap’ to inspire ourselves first, and the people after,” Mensa said. “I think Chance and I have grown a lot since then.”

Since “Acid Rap,” Chance has achieved the highest heights and endured some surprising lows. His 2016 mixtape, “Coloring Book,” became the first digital-only project to win a Grammy, for rap album. But in 2019, his wedding-themed album “The Big Day” was largely panned by critics and listeners, and a subsequent tour was first postponed and eventually canceled.

In response, Chance broadened his artistic horizons. Last year, he collaborated with visual artist Mia Lee for an installation at L.A.’s Museum of Contemporary Art, featuring an emotive painting by Lee themed to his song “Yah Know.” Months later, he helped organize the Black Star Line Festival in Ghana, which drew 50,000 people and featured performances from Chance and Mensa along with Erykah Badu, T-Pain, Sarkodie and more. (A second edition of the festival is set for Jamaica in January.)

“I’ve been saying for a year and a half that we’re in a renaissance, and this will be a time period that people look back on — especially Black folks — that exceeds all our past understandings of community, wealth, education or art,” Chance said. “All of those things are being revolutionized, with a larger goal of reconnection.”

Your music has shifted pretty far from what you were doing on “Acid Rap.” Is it a strange feeling, re-immersing yourself in 2013? It really was when I did the first show in Chicago. That was a deep thing to me, because I don’t really play much “Acid Rap” at my shows now — I’ll play “Cocoa Butter Kisses” or maybe “Everybody’s Something.” So to dig through old footage to create the content for the screens at the shows, and reconnect with all the people from Chicago, it just takes you back.

Each bar reminds me of people I need to hit up; every place that gets mentioned reminds me where I need to get some food. It’s a very aesthetic album. Some people get the acid vibe from it or the juke-gospel-hip-hop vibe, but I think it’s really just about me living in Chicago, putting pressure on myself to make a breakout project.

What song connects with you the most today? “Acid Rain.” I wrote that when I was opening up for artists playing 300-cap rooms. I’m rapping about doing open mics but closing my eyes and seeing arenas. Going back and playing arenas for that project just makes me proud.

Remaining independent throughout your career has been a big part of your image. How strong was the urge to sign in the early days? [Signing] was the main thing on my mind, all the way until late 2012. I thought, “This is the way. I gotta get a deal.”

I was in a label meeting, and they were giving me a weak-ass deal, but I was still down to do it. But instead of having a budget for physical albums, I wanted to do no physical copiesand only put it on iTunes and pocket that money instead. They told me there was no world where people would ever buy music without having it physically.

So if they’d foreseen our digital future, you would have signed? Hell, yeah. I needed the money. But I think I was lucky to be scared and wary enough to not sign.

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A lot of “Acid Rap” touches on addiction and the darker side of drug usage, yet you’ve talked about people bringing you vials of acid at the early shows. Did it ever feel like some people missed the message? I don’t think I was trying to get a specific message across. I feel like the coolest part about “Acid Rap” is it was so inquisitive and questioning things I thought I knew to be true.

I remember, two or three months after it dropped, I got tired of n— offering me acid and telling me about their trips every time I met them. But I couldn’t control it, because the project was out. It taught me that these projects are photographs of who we are in a moment but they last forever, and they shape a lot of people.

Did that lesson change how you made music? I really learned that lesson around the time I had my first child in 2015. I had moved out to L.A. and had a great time, but I wasn’t very productive. But when I had a kid and needed money, I went into a different mode. So during the creation of “Coloring Book,” I went through the process of “this baby’s really finna come and I need to tour and sing these songs proudly.” My kid’s going to grow up, and this is going to be a picture of my youth, of who I was before I was super-grown dad.

What was life like for you when you made “The Big Day?” It was hectic. I got married during that time, I had my second kid during that time. There was a whole bunch of s— going on in Chicago, between the mayoral campaign and Kanye coming back, everything. I remember crossing new thresholds in my life that were coming to me as an adult but still being in my youth at 26.

That album got some pretty harsh reviews, especially compared to your previous projects . How did that affect you? When I dropped “Acid Rap,” I got a lot of negative mentions at first, because [“10 Day”] was all about school. And then with “Coloring Book,” it was people mad that I was on some churchy s—. A new record is always a little bit jarring.

But when “The Big Day” dropped, [the reaction] definitely affected me. Like, “damn, this many people are talking about me, and it’s negative, all over the internet?”

I remember there was an initial reaction outside of my core fan base that I was noticing. It was way more of a Twitter conversation than I was used to. But it helped me understand, after the first week or two, that I had to stay outside. Views, mentions, comments all are important, but if you sit and read all of those and make them the measurement of the love versus hate that you had for something, you end up forgetting why you made it in the first place.

Looking back, would you have done anything differently? I think I’d do everything the same. My life isn’t easy at all, but it’s very eventful, and when things happen, they tend to work out in the best way for me.

Last year, you threw the Black Star Line Festival. What inspired that move? [In January 2022], I went to Ghana for the first time to visit Vic; he’d been staying out there. He had to make a bunch of moves around the continent, so he left me in the care of these amazing artists. I got shown the city of Accra by some of the renaissance artists of the 2020s. We really created community, and by the end of the trip, me and Vic were talking about doing a large initiative to reconnect Black folks in all the different Black countries. And we put together not just this concert, for 50,000 Black folks from around the world with top-tier artists from around the world, but did a whole week of events, with panels, Dave Chappelle speaking at the university, and all these different spaces for us to have intelligent discourse about what we want, what we need and what we can give each other. It reminded me of the Pan-African Festival of Algiers from the ’60s.

There’s been a lot of hand-wringing over hip-hop not having a No. 1 song or album for the majority of the year. What do you say to people who claim that hip-hop has peaked, that it’s falling off? I don’t believe that. Hip-hop isn’t dying when you have every single legend being platformed this year. You’ve got Chance the Rapper doing arenas for a 10-year-old mixtape, you got 50 Cent doing arena tours for a 20-year-old album. I think hip-hop is not only here to stay but it’s here to change things.

Are rap’s leaders doing enough to make that happen? I’ve been seeing a lot of hip-hop legends doing a lot of work. A lot of investing, supporting other artists, so that they don’t have to grow old and die in obscurity or without the honors they deserve. I think all we need is time and to re-emphasize the collective. And I think we’re getting closer to that.

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Kenan Draughorne is a reporter at the Los Angeles Times and was a member of the 2021-22 Los Angeles Times Fellowship class. When he’s not writing a story, you can find him skating across Dockweiler Beach, playing the drums or furiously updating his Spotify playlists.

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The Oral History of Chance the Rapper's 'Acid Rap'

It's been five years since the young Chicago rapper put himself on the map with his now-classic debut. We talked to everyone who helped him make it to hear the story behind the album.

Image via Complex Original

Five years ago, on April 30, 2013, Chance The Rapper released his sophomore mixtape, Acid Rap . It's the project that changed everything for then-20-year-old Chancelor Bennett: Before Chance was the first artist to be nominated for, and win, a Grammy for a streaming-only release—before he became the global superstar he is today—he was a scrappy, eager kid who was best known for naming his 2012 debut mixtape 10 Day after a 10-day suspension from his high school, Jones College Preparatory. To say Acid Rap fulfilled the promise displayed on his first effort would be an understatement. Rather, it was the immediate beginning of a stratospheric rise and a calling card for a truly new voice in hip-hop. 

Acid Rap sounds like youth. Songs like "Good Ass Intro" playfully combined a lifetime’s worth of Chicago musical traditions, from hip-hop to soul to juke, interpolating samples from both Common and Kanye West. The album had the wide-eyed optimism of childhood, but was unafraid of coming to terms with the difficulties and nuances of becoming an adult. Even at its most ebullient, like on the call-and-response single "Juice," Chance grappled with the loss of his friend Rodney Kyles Jr., who was murdered in 2011: “I ain't really been myself since Rod passed.” Chicago in 2012 was a city where a new class of young creatives were blossoming while over 500 total homicides were recorded; death creeps in throughout the album, like on "Paranoia," which contains the album’s most pointed line: “It’s easier to find a gun than a fucking parking spot.” In Acid Rap ’s emotional highs and lows, Chance captured the contradictions that define life in Chicago.

It was incredible songwriting, and a considerable artistic leap from his earliest music. On top of that, the features Chance was able to assemble on Acid Rap were just as impressive. Lending credits to his longtime friend and then-Kids These Days bandleader Vic Mensa, Chicago legend Twista, and burgeoning national rappers like Action Bronson, Ab-Soul, Childish Gambino, and many others, the project felt bigger than anything anyone was expecting. It wasn't the big names, though, that made  Acid Rap  what it was. Instead, it was the close-knit crew of collaborators that Chance assembled, most of them homegrown and still making music together today, finding an unmistakeable shared sound. Upon its release, it felt like the whole city had Chance’s back. The first day posts for  Acid Rap  crashed both Audiomack and Fake Shore Drive’s websites, based on the local buzz surrounding him that had reached its boiling point. Immediately, every major label would try to sign Chance. He would turn them all down.

Five years after its release, Acid Rap is the story of collaboration. While Chance is its nucleus and auteur, the album is the product of a bunch of free-spirited and wildly creative friends who worked their asses off making music that they loved. There were late-night sessions across several studios, acid trips, tight deadlines, packs of cigarettes smoked, industry meetings that never panned out, and a ton of wild coincidences that felt like magic. Everything happened quickly, and the project they created would define a new generation of Chicago artists by capturing the sound of the city they came from.  

This is the oral history of Acid Rap —a free mixtape that inspired a city, launched a promising career into the stratosphere, and made hip-hop a better, more exciting place—told by the people who made it.

The Players

Alex “Papi Beatz” Baez:  Engineer

Andrew Barber:  Founder of Fake Shore Drive

Ceej: Member of Two-9, producer (“Pusha Man”)

Elton "L10MixedIt" Chueng:  Engineer, mixed and mastered Acid Rap

Peter CottonTale: Chance the Rapper's Music Director, Producer (“Good Ass Intro,” “Cocoa Butter Kisses”)

brandUn DeShay (Ace Hashimoto): Producer (“NaNa”)

J.P. Floyd:  Trombonist, former Member of Kids These Days, former Frank Ocean Touring Member, featured artist (“Good Ass Intro”)

Nate Fox:  Member of the Social Experiment, featured artist (“Pusha Man”), producer (“Juice,” “Lost,” “Favorite Song,” “Chain Smoker”)

Alex Fruchter:  Founder of Closed Sessions, Owner of Ruby Hornet

Rich Gains:  Member of Blended Babies, producer (“Smoke Again”)

Ludwig Göransson:  Composer ( Black Panther , Creed , Fruitvale Station ), former Childish Gambino Musical Director, producer (“Interlude [That’s Love]”)

JP: Member of Blended Babies, producer (“Smoke Again”)

Kiara Lanier: Singer, featured artist (“Good Ass Intro”)

Lili K: Singer, featured artist (“Good Ass Intro,” “Pusha Man”)

Mike Kolar: Engineer, owner of Soundscape Studios, founder of Closed Sessions

Vic Mensa: Rapper, former member of Kids These Days, featured artist (“Cocoa Butter Kisses”)

Cam O’bi: Producer (“Good Ass Intro,” “Cocoa Butter Kisses,” “Everything’s Good [Good Ass Outro]”)

Stefan Ponce:  Producer (“Good Ass Intro”)

Nico Segal: Trumpeter, member of the Social Experiment, former member of Kids These Days, former Frank Ocean touring member

Na’el Shehade:  Engineer, owner of Force One Seven Studios

Twista:  Rapper, featured artist (“Cocoa Butter Kisses”)

Austin Vesely:  Director (“Juice,” “Everybody’s Something,” "NaNa")

Chance the Rapper in 2013 | Image via Matthew Eisman/Getty

Pre-Release:

Vic Mensa: I went to do to an open mic at Jones College Preparatory my freshman year, which was Chance’s high school. It was the first time I ever rapped in front of people and I remember shaking the microphone back and forth so nobody could really hear me. That’s where I met [Chance]. I thought he was kinda funny looking. He dressed funny. We became friends though that day, and we started making music that year. We did this hot-ass verse, I forget what it was, but there was this line, “stares harder than a teddy bear’s eyes.” This was pre-Kids These Days.

Nico Segal: I was probably 13 or 14 when I met Chance. I was in a band called Kids These Days with Vic Mensa and we did this show at Jones College Preparatory, where Chance went to high school. He might have even booked the show but I’m pretty sure he got us to be the act that performed. We just became friends. I was hanging out with Chance more at YouMedia, the after school program Brother Mike ran at Harold Washington Library. We started recording music literally in that library. One of the main things I remember from that time is that there were all these kids from all over the city sharing their deepest, darkest secrets and their poetry who were already really good like Fatimah (Noname), Saba, Mick Jenkins, and Malcolm London, but Chance was always one of the people who stood out. There was just so much happening in that space so it was really something that Chance could stand out.

Andrew Barber: Before the 2012 boom in Chicago, there was a lot of music popping off locally that didn’t have the same legs nationally. The only artist who got a major label deal, which isn’t the biggest barometer of success, was Jeremih. We also had the Cool Kids and Kidz in the Hall. Before drill and Savemoney, the industry only cared about the Lupes and the Kanyes of the world.

Alex Fruchter: Drill was about to blow up, and Kids These Days were making a lot of noise. It was also during the time there was a pretty organic blog infrastructure in Chicago with Ruby Hornet and Fake Shore Drive . You also had people like The Cool Kids, Kidz in the Hall, Mikkey Halsted, and GLC. It was an in-between time but those acts were still laying the groundwork for Chicago music.

JP: My Blended Babies partner Rich and I knew Chance through Kids These Days. Vic Mensa and Nico Segal brought him over to our house when I was engineering for Kids These Days. Chance would show up to sessions, hang out, rap and just kick it.

Rich Gains: Chance didn’t even really rap when we met him. He was just Vic’s homie who was coming through but he always had this uptempo energy to him.

Papi Beatz: Just being in the studio and being around Chicago, I had wanted to work with Chance for so long. I think the day I met him at LPZ Studios, he was on acid that day, and he came in and just gave me this big hug. We just hung out in the studio that day. I think he was sitting in on a Vic Mensa session. He was just genuinely one of the nicest dudes I’ve met in the industry, especially at that point. He just brought light to the room and there was never an uncomfortable moment with him. He smiles a lot.

Nico Segal: One of my biggest memories of Chance was him passing out 5 Day tapes, one of his earliest projects. I remember walking around downtown Chicago with him and a cardboard box of scribbled-on Best Buy blank CDs that Chance and his dad burned. It was like we were raising money for a basketball team. It’d be Chance passing out his mixtape and asking people if they like rap music. Back then, we didn’t think it was funny at all. We thought we were really doing something and in the end we actually were, because people that went home and actually listened had to be pretty blown away at how good he was even then.

Andrew Barber: Chance had this idea to go to high schools after school was over and sell tickets to his peers. It was genius, because rappers are usually too cool to do stuff like that and sell tickets hand-to-hand. You make an intern do that! That’s what helped him build this genuine relationship with his fans. He’s always done that.

{ "id": 133540383 } "I remember walking around downtown Chicago with Chance and a cardboard box of scribbled-on Best Buy blank CDs that He and his dad burned." —Nico Segal

Lili K: Peter CottonTale and I met in 2010. I was going to Columbia and while he didn’t go there too, he was in a band called HD that played an open mic jam session. Since I was new to Chicago, I went to go sing and prefaced it by saying I was looking for a band to play with. That’s when I started working with his band, but it was Peter who I really hit it off with. I was taking a class with Alex Fruchter, who went on to found Closed Sessions, and Chance was supposed to be a guest artist for the class’ student-run record label. I insisted on bringing Peter to produce the song because I knew they’d hit it off.

Peter CottonTale: My band at the time used to back Lili K and I was pretty open making music and just collaborating with as many people as I could. I went to Lili’s class with [producer] Thelonious Martin, and Chance was there. I had seen him around and from what I can remember, he introduced himself and asked us to help out with beats.

Lili K: Peter and I met Chance that day and that’s how we started working with Chance was on 10 Day on “Hey Ma.” We did that song in a single night because Chance’s grandma was about to go into surgery and he wanted to play it for her before she went in.

Peter CottonTale: We were all doing the same thing musically so I don’t even remember my first impression of Chance. Our hobbies were the same so it’d be like having my first impression of myself. Some people play video games, some people play basketball, but we make music and we just started creating. It’s been that way for years. It’s still is the same feeling.

Austin Vesely: I remember he had played me his song “Fuck You Tahm Bout” and that went so hard so we made that the first video we did together. But our first official collaboration was me shooting a 10 Day listening party in November of 2011. It was a rough time for everyone. Chance’s friend Rodney Kyles had been stabbed in Lincoln Park and died a couple months before. It affected everyone but it really affected Chance. He was there when it happened. He wrote “Missing You” on 10 Day and I think Kyles’ loss really colored the project. He had to let it sink in.

Andrew Barber: Chance’s first manager, Mat Lyman, used to do some writing for Fake Shore Drive. He had brought Chance to the Fake Shore Drive office in late 2011 or early 2012. I was really impressed with Chance. When he came to the office, we had a really long chat where we played music and talked about life and I just remember thinking that he had already really thought this through and knew what he was doing.

Alex Fruchter: I had Chance the Rapper open for Kids These Days at a show at Subterranean in July 2011 that my blog Ruby Hornet was sponsoring. I didn’t think too much of adding him on because we had been doing so many events then. He was soundchecking before the show and he came up to me and I just remember thinking he was a really eager and nice kid. When the show started and he played “Fuck You Tahm Bout” and “Brain Cells,” he was just incredible. I remember tweeting about how dope he was. It sounds corny but from that show I had a feeling about him. Not to this level but I knew he had a bright future.

Andrew Barber: At that time, I was getting calls from every single industry person because they were trying to sign an artist from Chicago. This was when it was Chief Keef, Lil Durk, and King Louie mania. I remember having these conversations with these label that while those are great and popular acts, there’s this whole other side of Chicago hip-hop that are young, selling out venues, getting local hype but aren’t getting the attention that they should be getting. I told them, pay attention to Chance the Rapper, Kids These Days, and Rockie Fresh. There’s this whole other movement going.

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Nate Fox: I was at SXSW in 2012 with some friends of mine from Cleveland and I randomly saw Chance come out and I decided to go say what’s up. I introduced myself and he recognized me. I have no idea how he had heard of me but I was making beats and he was just about to drop 10 Day so I knew who he was. I gave him some beats and then he called me two weeks later asking me to come to Chicago and work on his project. At the beginning of making Acid Rap , I was living in Cleveland and would drive to Chicago every other weekend. I later moved to the Pittsburgh-area to work a construction job and I’d still make the drive as we were wrapping it up.

Stefan Ponce: Chance had DM’d me on Facebook when he was like 15 and I was 19 at the time, asking me to promote his shit like a little asshole. We officially connected when I was working with Greg “Stix” Landfair, who told me that I had to work with him. I worked on a version of “Prom Night” with Chance and then his 2012 song “Yolo” but I think the first thing I recorded him was his verse on “They Don’t Like Me” that song off Childish Gambino’s 2012 mixtape Royalty .  We got close really fast. We have the same humor.

DJ O-Zone: When Chance was a teen, I saw him perform at Leaders, a streetwear store here in Chicago. It was interesting because I got to see his whole transition. When I first met him, he was really shy. To remember that individual at that age, I would’ve never thought that he would become who he is now. But as time went on, it became more clear.  

Na’el Shehade: I had met Chance when he was shooting a promo at Leaders with guys in our office for 10 Day . I invited him to my studio Force One Seven and I remember how driven, energetic, and professional he was. We worked a lot on music together. The bulk of the vocal recordings on Acid Rap started at Force One Seven. Most of the writing started at my studio and most of the songs would only take two or three takes. It was one after another.

Michael Kolar: I met Chance when he started tagging along for the Kids These Days sessions for Traphouse Rock at Soundscape Studios and I remember he was tripping on acid. He was young as fuck, precocious, and inquisitive. You could tell he was sitting on the sidelines at that point but it was clear he was happy to be in a real studio. You could tell the wheels were turning in his brain observing how people were recording and making music.

Vic Mensa: I remember when Chance introduced me to acid around the time Kids These Days were finishing up Traphouse Rock and Chance had started work on Acid Rap . We were working on the song with Chance on that album. It was a fun time because in our circle there was a lot of psychedelic experimentation going on: Towkio thought he had the meaning of life at that time. I was doing a lot of mushrooms and Chance was doing a lot of acid.

Elton Chueng: I first linked up with Chance right after 10 Day came out. I was a huge fan of his and he was looking for studio time at Classick Studios. Stefan Ponce would bring him there for late night sessions and I would catch Chance sleeping on the couch to wait for his 3 a.m. slot. It was really cool to see how much he wanted it and was willing to wait patiently so late at night to work.

Michael Kolar: With Acid Rap , he’d come in at late hours at Soundscape and needed the space of the studio to write and cut different verses. The kid was crazy driven. He buckled down and worked. Because of that, it was a by-the-numbers successful recording process. He never caused any problems or made it a party, which doesn’t make for great quote fodder, but the main thing I noticed was how he battled being so young to stay focused. He’d always light up when he walked into the studio.

Elton Chueng: One of the first times I worked with Chance was for Childish Gambino's Royalty cut "They Don't Like Me." I had just finished my internship with Classick and one of my friends Jeff Jackson was supposed to work on it. He had been working a lot and since it was another 3 a.m. session, I offered to take over. Sure enough, that's the session that made the project.

Ludwig Göransson: I was the musical director for Childish Gambino and produced his mixtapes, put a band together, and went on his first tour. Chance was opening up for us then. At first, before I saw him perform my impression was that he was so young and had so much energy. I immediately got his energy. I saw him perform at our first show and I was struck by him, like this is something else.

DJ O-Zone: His original DJ Stefan Ponce ended up going on tour with Childish Gambino and Chance needed another DJ and that’s when he reached out to me. It got to a point where his peers, these high school kids, would line down the block for his mixtape releases and shows. It grew and grew and 10 Day came and I was able to foresee his ascent. I knew I needed to be on the next tape.

{ "id": 133540384 } "I feel like people across the board on 'Acid Rap' can point to that one night with Chance that changed their lives." —Nate Fox

Nate Fox: Before Chance and I had started making music for this project together, I was in Chicago and we had a really amazing evening sharing our favorite music back and forth. He had never heard James Blake or Francis and the Lights, so I played him their music and blew his mind. He showed me Joanna Newsom and a few others and I always think about that moment because since then, Francis has become one of his best friends and he’s made great music with James Blake. I just think about the impact one night has on our whole lives and I feel like people across the board on Acid Rap can point to that one night with Chance that changed their lives.

Andrew Barber: When Chance started making Acid Rap , when he linked up with his new manager Pat Corcoran. I loved Pat, he was this hustler: a hungry, up-and-coming kid, so friendly and interested.

Elton Chueng: The Acid Rap sessions I worked on had to have started around August or September of 2012. I remember Chance’s manager Pat Corcoran had hit me up to have him come in two or three times a week. He just chipped away at all those songs during those 6 pm to 10 pm sessions, which would often bleed out until the wee hours of the night.  

Twista: I probably first heard about Chance in Chicago from one of the younger cats that would come around to my studio and just play different music. Up north, Chance and I had a show together at some small gig at a shoe store. I don’t remember exactly where or why but at that show I realized how dope he was. I could tell early on that he was going to be a star and that I wanted to work with him. When he saw me, he was like, “Oh, the OG! Let’s exchange numbers.” We did that, and you know how charismatic he is already.

Nico Segal: In early 2013, we brought Chance out on tour with Kids These Days and a lot of Acid Rap songs were being worked on, finalized, or released, and I just remember a lot of kids at our shows screaming his lyrics and freaking out whenever he came to the venue. It was a really different vibe for us, the members of Kids These Days, because we were a band so none of us, except maybe Vic, had that star power.

Austin Vesely: I was shooting that March Madness tour for Chance and it truly felt that a lot of the kids at the shows were there for Chance.

Vic Mensa: That tour was fun, but it was a weird time because Kids These Days were breaking up. It was our last hurrah traveling cross country in a van. We’d go back and forth about who’d open and close the show. He’d come out during our sets. Some shows had 400 people and some shows had 10 people.

Nico Segal: Just remembering firsthand witnessing my friend ascending in real time, it was inspiring, actually. There was no competition at all, even though Kids These Days was headlining that tour, if you can believe that.

Andrew Barber: Right around that time, I was hosting a show at SXSW. We had Master P headlining, the Cool Kids, ShowYouSuck, and a few others. The doors had opened at 3 so Chance was on at like 4 p.m. He was wearing that tie-dye tank top that he ended up wearing on the Acid Rap cover. This was just a few weeks before the project came out but I remember that every A&R and label executive came out to watch him. I saw Lyor Cohen, Paul Rosenberg, and so many other people. He was a force of nature at that point.

Alex Fruchter: Chance played us Acid Rap in full in the Soundscape B Room. We had a session with Freddie Gibbs in the A Room and Chance had invited me to listen to it in the other room days before it came out. It was incredible. I had no idea if he knew how big it was going to be. He was also the talk of the industry at that time so I’m sure those feelings were there.

{ "id": 133540387 } 1. "Good Ass Intro" (featuring BJ the Chicago Kid, Lili K., Kiara Lanier, Peter Cottontale, Will Miller, J.P. Floyd) [Produced by Peter Cottontale, Cam O'bi, Stefan Ponce]

Peter CottonTale: We had started work on “Good Ass Intro” before Chance even knew he was going to call it Acid Rap and have an acid jazz-inspired project. I came through and he had this Common and John Legend sample that I’d always play, and wanted me to flip and add chords on it.

J.P. Floyd: I still remember when Kids These Days were recording our song “Don’t Harsh My Mellow.” Chance was there. He came up to us and said that he had the exact idea for Acid Rap by showing us “Faithful,” that Common song featuring John Legend and Bilal. He said, “I want to start my next project with this.” Even after the session I was on for Acid Rap and this song, I didn’t put two-and-two together until way later.

Lili K: When we started work on Acid Rap , Peter would call me in to the studio and we’d throw around different vocal arrangements and experiment with different sounds and arrangements. With those EPs Peter and I made, the gospel, soul, and hip-hop fusion we were crafting ended up being the sonic foundation for this project. Chance would watch us work and ask us for advice. It was really creative and collaborative and our sound blended perfectly with what Chance wanted to do. We started “Good Ass Intro” together and then brought in BJ the Chicago Kid to add more vocal layers and textures. Those original vocal arrangements we did were what ended up on the song and I’m the majority of the backing vocals you hear on the track.

Elton Chueng: This took a few sessions to get right. I remember that Chance had the John Legend sample in there at first. There was a crazy vibe for this one because it just a huge group of friends working on a single thing. We had Lili K in the studio, who’s the first voice you hear on the whole mixtape. Peter CottonTale and Cam O’bi were both in the studio and we had Stefan Ponce do the drums. They all brought their own perspective but it was super collaborative. There were also so many instruments that I remember having a really hard time making space for all of them sonically. I probably mixed that track 10-plus times. It was all so extensive.

Stefan Ponce: I had these drum sounds so I could make beats live and I remember with Peter CottonTale we would perform that song as a Chance the Rapper freestyle before it was even made. I’d do the drums and Peter would play the keys. I did the drums for that recording process but the song changed so much. I only ever did the juke-style drums for this song.

Elton Chueng: I’d do a session at Classick and then get a phone call from Peter Cottontale to come over to Soundscape to track horns. We’d be crunched on time but Peter works so fast and he can arrange things at such a crazy pace. It was all of Chicago and then some on this project.

Lili K: We bounced around studios and all of those sessions were kind of a blur. We kept adding more and more layers to it. We would just go into creating things without knowing where it’d end up, we just really believed in what we were making in the moment. I believed in Chance’s vision.

Kiara Lanier: I had been working on my own music after I was done with a stint on American Idol and Chance, who’s been a family friend for forever, called me to ask if I could put vocals on a record. There were so many people on the track so it was important for me to figure out my place with all the competing elements. Chance was really excited about this one part, which was an allusion back to that “Faithful” sample, and he asked me to do my own take the “I wanna be” part and add harmonies to Lili K’s arrangements.

J.P. Floyd: Me and my boy Will Miller were doing an Alex Wiley session over at Soundscape Studios for his song “The Woods.” That was my first time meeting Elton Chueng. When we were done with our session we were just chilling in the studio and Peter Cottontale, who I knew from our high school after school jazz band, came into the room and asked us to stay over and record on something for Chance. We were both like, “Sure.” It was out of nowhere. It was “Good Ass Intro” and I thought it was already raw as fuck. At that time it wasn’t all the way done but it was definitely a song. Peter had a vision and he just needed the horn players to get the idea too.

Peter CottonTale: I wish I could say it was done when there were just too many layers but I wasn’t confident enough to have realized it at the time. We worked on that song forever and it was done when it was just time to put it out.

{ "id": 133540388 } 2. "Pusha Man / Paranoia" (featuring Lili K. and Nate Fox) [Produced by Ceej, Nosaj Thing]

Ceej: I first met up with Chance before Acid Rap dropped. My group Two-9 were playing in Columbus and he was opening for us. He was always such a great performer even during 10 Day . After the show, he came to our hotel room and I said, “Bro, that ‘Pusha Man’ joint is about to be fire.” And he was shocked and asked how I had heard it. He was mad! But I told him, “No, man, I produced it!” And then we just started talking and hit it off. The reason why Chance had heard it was that I’d used to let Nate Fox go through my computer and take whatever beat he liked for making his own tight-ass hooks even though he wasn’t taking his own rapping seriously. He told me later that Chance was on it and kept Nate’s hook.

Nate Fox: In Cleveland, I was bored and started making my own album. I originally got into hip-hop through rapping and I realized pretty quickly I was much better at making beats but I’d ask my friends around Cleveland and other producers I knew to send me beats. Ceej sent me the “Pusha Man” beat and I wrote a verse, my friend wrote a different verse, and I made the hook. I was in Chicago driving around with Chance and it was on my mix CD and he asked, “Wait. What is this?” and I told him it was just some dumb shit was I making. He said, “Take off the verses and send this to me.” I jokingly asked him to leave my verse on there and he said, “Absolutely not.” But the hook that’s on there is exactly how it was when I showed him it originally.

Ceej: I have no idea how I found that Dave Grusin “Modaji” sample but I remember when I heard it, the song screamed 2Chainz to me. I’m from Atlanta, and that was when 2Chainz would go by Tity Boi and would be doing songs like “Pimps,” that soulful trap joint he did with Big K.R.I.T. and Bun B. That was my favorite era of his career. I made the beat for him which is why I added the trap drums. It just happened that it ended up in Chance’s hands. Years later, Chance and I were at 2Chainz’s studio and I had to tell everyone that I originally made the beat for 2Chainz. Chance had no idea.

Elton Chueng: When the song starts, I’m the one that exclaims “ chyeah !” right in the beginning. We were bouncing the one of the mixes and I was just goofing around and said “ chyeah !” Chance then stopped and asked me to record myself, saying, “That’d be the perfect way to kick off this song.” He recorded me saying that and the rest is history.

Lili K: For “Pusha Man,” Chance just had me come in because he wanted some very subtle vocalese parts in the song. He played me the track and said, “Do whatever you want to do. I just need something here. I added a few “oohs.” People always ask me where I was featured because it’s so subtle but it’s mainly my voice being used as production that’s woven throughout the track.

Ceej: I didn’t hear it until Nate played it for me. I was in shock. He ended up shortening it and making the song a double song with “Paranoia.” “Pusha Man” was originally three verses and the third verse was so fire. I want to put it out. Chance snapped. I knew from hearing that that Chance would be really big.

Nate Fox: The fact that it was supposed to be two songs in one with that big space in the middle was a huge selling point for me. One of the big conversations Chance and I would have would be about James Blake and the way he uses space in his songs. I remember Chance wanting to really create that feeling of paranoia, not knowing what’s coming next, and being timid about it. I love that moment. It was one of the most creative ways of implementing a thought into music that he pulled off by just adding space between the two songs.

Austin Vesely: I was in the studio when Chance did “Paranoia.” He did that one in Los Angeles. We were shooting the “NaNa” video with Hannibal Buress. There was this thing happening called Songs From Scratch where an artist and a producer would be put in a room and make a song from nothing. We spent six hours in the studio with Nosaj Thing and watched him build the beat. I remember Chance got a really bad headache and couldn’t finish it.

Elton Chueng: What I remember about “Paranoia,” besides it just being fun to mix, was that a few days before Acid Rap came out, Chance came up with the tail end of the song. The, “I know you’re scared” part. He was so focused in the booth, and had one of the most perfect takes. It only took two or so tries. He knew it needed to sound super vulnerable. While he was recording it, there was something about his vulnerability and his lyrics really resonated with me and a lot of people in Chicago. Lines like “it’s easier to find a gun than a fucking parking spot” were so truthful and so real. It was undeniable. I had chills just witnessing him jotting down the words and going into the booth.

{ "id": 133540390 } 3. "Cocoa Butter Kisses" (featuring Vic Mensa and Twista) [Produced by Cam O'bi, Peter Cottontale]

Vic Mensa: I was staying with my manager Cody Kazarian a lot at his apartment in Humboldt Park. Chance came through one day and he showed me this verse and hook he wrote earlier. Then I did mushrooms for the first time at that point and I didn’t know what would happen. I went into Cody’s bedroom, which had this really janky setup which probably sounded worse than what would happen if I just plugged in to a laptop. I started to write and felt the mushrooms and I was floating. I felt like I was in-between dimensions when I was recording.

Cam O’bi: Vic Mensa wanted me to produce this record, so he put me in touch with Peter CottonTale. There was a song that they already had written but they needed a beat for it. I remember the original producer that made the song had his beat taken by another rapper so he didn’t want Chance to use it even though they already had it recorded. Chance wanted me and Peter to take the acapella tracks they had recorded and make a new beat for it.

Peter CottonTale: The original version of the song was produced from a friend I knew from back in the day, O_Bonjour. It was this demo I got from him and I think it was called “Gunshots and Babies Fuck Hawaii” it was just a goofy title. We still bump it too, low-key. I remember Vic was really killing it on there. It was a whole different vibe, it was laid-back and much more sly.

Vic Mensa: It was actually called “Babies and Gunshots: Fuck Hawaii Pt: 2” That wasn’t the name of the beat that’s what we called it. The beat was some bossa nova shit. We called it that because we were ruminating on the effects of violence in our community. It was “Fuck Hawaii” because we’re in Chicago: it’s cold, dark, and dangerous. Fuck that state!

Cam O’bi: When Chance and Vic had asked us to remake the beat it wasn’t too much of a challenge because it was the same process as making a remix of an already-released track. I’d been taking acapella tracks and making new beats for ’em for years, even though I don’t really put them out like people like Kaytranada do. It was actually really organic when we made it because Chance and Vic were there and singing the hook live for us, Peter was on keys and I was on my laptop. Once we had the chord progressions, they left the rest of the song with me because Kids These Days and Chance were about to go on tour together. They wanted the song to be done by the time they came back.

Papi Beatz: Those sessions were just fun. I remember when the song was originally recorded Chance was thinking about getting Twista on it. He was a legend and potentially getting him was big time shit for us, and still is, but we kept thinking it’d be absolutely crazy if it worked it. Sure enough, a couple weeks later Twista’s verse comes in.

Twista: Chance already had an idea for a song that he wanted me on and I was just glad to be a part of it. The song reminded me of being young. It put me back in my childhood memories at my grandmother’s house, but it also took me into my memories of becoming an adult like when you start smoking weed and doing adult things. That memory of trying to talk to your mom but realizing you shouldn’t because you smell like weed. Those type of feelings right there put me in a genuine place so I could write my verse.

Peter CottonTale: Hearing Twista’s verse was amazing, but it wasn’t until we played Lollapalooza when Twista came out that it hit me that, “Damn! I really had Twista on a song that I made!” It’s fun being excited like that because it inspired us.  

Vic Mensa: Having Twista on it was a mindfuck for me because I love his music so much.

Twista: I wanted to really give a Twista version of what I was hearing from the song. Both Chance and Vic went off. I wanted to ride the rhythm, and sync it to my mindset of where it feels to me. I had that, “That's the new principle, sometimes I'mma be about some hoes / Sometimes I'mma wanna make a movie” and I remember I knew I wanted to rhyme “Higgs Boson” with “Voltron” so I thought, “I want to use this fucking word in there.”

Papi Beatz: I was mixing and working on a bunch of other projects that meant a lot to me like Vic Mensa’s Innanetape so I couldn’t mix the entirety of  Acid Rap . Because of that, “Cocoa Butter Kisses” is the one song I mixed start-to-finish and I just wanted it to sound the fucking best. It was already a great song, I was just determined to really show what I could do.

Cam O’bi: I knew that it was going to be a hit when I finished it. They re-recorded the vocals to match it up with the finished product. I knew it was special.

{ "id": 133540394 } 4. "Juice" [Produced by Nate Fox]

Nate Fox: I had been in a little bit of a struggle creatively, just making trap beats in Cleveland even though what I was listening to at the point was stuff like Donny Hathaway, The Beatles, and soul music. After realizing I was overthinking it, I just ventured into my personal listening playlists and I heard Hathaway’s live version of John Lennon’s “Jealous Guy” and knew it was so sample perfect. I made the beat in probably 15 minutes.

Elton Chueng: On tour, he started performing a rough version of that song and his fans were going wild for it. To see him do that at a show, and a few weeks later come into the studio and ask to open up “Juice” was crazy.

Austin Vesely: The video for “Juice” was made before the project came out by a few months. The song was in some degree done by November of 2012. We had a video concept that we wanted to do and we made a teaser for the video that zooms into Jones College Prep from space, but we never actually shot that video.

Andrew Barber: I heard “Juice” early and I remember this really dope trailer for the video. We were so stoked on it but what’s funny is that trailer ended up having nothing to do with the actual video. That was crazy. People didn’t know what to expect.

Nate Fox: When Chance sent back the demo for “Juice” it really blew my mind. I hadn’t heard anything like that. We had a pretty long discussion on the phone. I remember sitting on my porch in Cleveland and it was a conversation I was waiting to have for a long time about having that connection with an artist. I don’t how to explain it but it was almost spiritual. I had only been making music for me up until that point but talking to him I knew there was something bigger than the both of us happening.

Austin Vesely: January comes around and we never shot the original video but Chance hits me up to go to New York because he was going to have some industry meetings. We had planned on doing something silly like Chance handing out juice boxes to random New Yorkers but when we got to New York, it was our first time there as young dudes. New York had this different meaning to us as Chicagoans because it signified sort of the come-up and it just feels like success if you’re there. We were staying close to Times Square and we’d go out really late at night and it felt like we owned the city. We just shot that. We’d done these artistic videos before but we really just wanted to embody Chance as a performer and his energy. It was the proper introduction.

Nate Fox: I have two major takeaways from working on this project, one’s positive and one’s educational. The first is that I learned about the power of collaboration and being able to go with someone else’s ideas and how beneficial that can be for the music. The other thing that I learned that was education is about sampling, publishing, and registering songs. As much as we wanted to have this project on Spotify and iTunes, there are a lot of samples and it is tough to clear. For instance, that Donny Hathaway song is a clearance from Hathaway and John Lennon’s camp and we know how hard it is to clear anything Beatles-related. For every sample, there’s a story.

{ "id": 133540393 } 5. "Lost" (featuring Noname) [Produced by Nate Fox]

Nate Fox: This was another example of me trying not to overthink my samples because Willie Hutch’s “Brother's Gonna Work It Out” is another classic song that everyone knows. It was also really easy to chop because it’s just an eight-bar loop of the song. I didn’t do too much with it but I do remember giving it to Chance and him assuring me it was going to be on the album.

Elton Chueng: I remember when I was mixing it, I had to dim the lights and set the mood because it was such a heavy song. I was super tuned-into that mix on that record. Another big thing for me was meeting Noname through those recordings. She had come through one night after she had just written her verse. She laid down the track but didn’t like how it sounded. They called me the next morning to schedule a four-hour session. They came in with 20 minutes or so remaining and she just knocked it out so fast. It only took her one or two takes to run through.

Nate Fox: One of the last weekends before the release, he played it for me and I was just amazed. I had never heard Noname at that point I was like, “Who is that?” I think everyone had the same reaction to “Lost” and while I think it’s a song people enjoy, I think the main reaction is that it’s the first time people heard Noname.

{ "id": 133540396 } 6. "Everybody's Something" (featuring Saba and BJ the Chicago Kid) [Produced by DJ Ozone]

DJ O-Zone: After Chance asked me to be his DJ, we did a couple shows together. There was one particular date in Minneapolis where “Everybody’s Something” started. I got to the city first and he was coming in from L.A. While I was waiting for Chance’s plane to land, I was in the airport working on beats. It just so happened the beat I was working on became “Everybody’s Something.” He gets there and we do soundcheck and I plug in my aux cord in the green room. He heard the beat and said, “Yo! I need this.” I get artists all the time asking me for beats so I didn’t think too much of it but the next day he still asked me for the beat. I sent it to him, he records his part. The Slum Village song I sample, “Fall In Love,” is one of my favorite songs of all time, so I’m happy he used it.

Vic Mensa: We had a studio session at the Traphouse and we were doing drugs and I think we even called the session “drugs.” Me and Chance were doing this song and freestyling something about “Lambskin Luxury” but I don’t really remember and then Chance said, “Everybody’s somebody’s everything.” And I said, “Wait, no they’re not. What about a homeless person who doesn’t matter to anyone? Not in society’s eyes.” We had a show at Reggie’s the next day and he said, “Hey, I made a song out of that.”

Elton Chueng: When Chance was working on that one, it was almost like a puzzle for him to piece together to figure out the hook. He’d be thinking up lines and then he said, “Everybody’s somebody's everything / Nobody’s nothing” and then it was, “Oh, my god! That’s it!” It was an epiphany for him, like, “Did I really just say it like that?” When you break it down or if you say that to someone directly in regular conversation it’s actually very meaningful and holds a lot of weight. Off that hook, he just wrote like a madman. As soon as he found that first match of the puzzle piece it all came together. Also when BJ The Chicago Kid came in to lay down those backing tracks I realized that it was amazing. Saba’s verse, too! He went crazy! I didn’t even really know who he was but he really snapped.

Austin Vesely: Being at Classick and hearing it for the first time, I knew immediately it was going to be a jam because of that sample. Vic also put a verse on it that didn’t come out.

Vic Mensa: I don’t remember having a verse on that one. I very well could’ve but I don’t really remember it.

DJ O-Zone: Fun fact: I believe he originally had a Lupe Fiasco verse on this album and from what I was told Joey Badass also had a verse, but the only one he kept was Saba’s. I was ecstatic when I found out it was going to be on the project.

Elton Chueng: That was the first time I saw my work on TV. MTV 2 had Austin Vesely’s video on In Rotation . I was tripping out and I couldn’t even process it. But it’s just another reminder that it was just the beginning for everybody! Austin Vesely has a feature film coming out. Saba is killing it on tour right now with his new project. If you take a step back and put yourself in that time and see how talented everyone was, it’s no shock to see where everyone’s at right now.

DJ O-Zone: I’ve had so many times in my life where I’ve told people songs of mine were going to be on projects and then it doesn’t happen so I didn’t have any expectations. It didn’t really click until Chance told me one time that this was his favorite song on the project. He was for real and he wasn’t just pulling my leg. Especially for a song like that, which isn’t a club record, for it to resonate with him. It’s a special record. That year was when I had my first son and I dedicated it to him.

{ "id": 133540397 } 7. "Interlude (That's Love)" [Produced by Ludwig Göransson]

Ludwig Göransson: This was the first collaboration I did with Chance. This was originally supposed to be a song called “It’s Electric.” I remember after the Childish Gambino tour he hit me up saying that he was in Los Angeles and wanted to record. He had a few songs out already, and I was such a fan I happily invited him over. We basically started from scratch. I had this little piano intro on my iPhone and I played him those chords. He got inspired by that and we put it all into Ableton.

Elton Chueng: This was one of my favorite songs to mix. First of all, shout out to Ludwig. That man’s a genius and I’m embarrassed to admit that I didn’t know his résumé at that time with his scoring work. Everything on that record sounded incredible when it got into my hands for mixing. I was blown away, “I don’t know who this Ludwig guy is but he must have a really nice studio.”

Ludwig Göransson: We pretty much made the whole song in half a day. While we were in the studio together, I was putting on all these instruments. He wanted guitar and organ. We kept adding and when the whole track was done he recorded vocals. It was very quick. We were in a really creative moment with each other.

Stefan Ponce: Not a lot of people know this but Donald Glover is doing the background vocals on this song. He’s the one that’s doing the harmonies. He sings so fucking good that people don’t realize it’s him.

Elton Chueng: It took me halfway through making the song that all those backing vocals were all Donald Glover. I didn’t know he could sing like that at the time.

Ludwig Göransson: When the song came out in the album, I was thinking back on the session and listening to the song. That day when we were in the studio, looking back, I can’t believe that we did all that in half of a day. It’s a pretty intricate song with a lot of stuff going on, lots of instruments, and really cool vocals and choirs. It was such a special day in the studio.

{ "id": 133540400 } 8. "Favorite Song" (featuring Childish Gambino) [Produced by Nate Fox]

Vic Mensa: “Favorite Song” was originally a song that me and Chance were recording in L.A. We might’ve been sleeping on Chuck Inglish’s couch on that trip and had gotten into the studio by finessing our way into it. I made a hook idea for it and then fell asleep on the couch. While I was sleeping, I remember waking up and seeing Chance come up with the parts that made the song.

Stefan Ponce: Chance would tell me he wanted to have an acid-jazz inspired sound for this project so I’d send him some ideas but it formulated so much more with him and Nate Fox. They really knocked it down. He had “Favorite Song” and we had performed that song at a show with Kids These Days.

Nate Fox: The same day I made the beat for “Juice,” I made “Favorite Song.” It was pretty much the same concept where I let go of my inhibitions and just sampled songs that I liked and chopped them real simply.

Stefan Ponce: I remember I played a version of it when I was DJing and the kids in the crowd already knew the words even before the song was out.

Nate Fox: The original version of this song we recorded in L.A. and it had Vic and Chance on it. I don’t remember why he didn’t end up on it but I remember that session being so much fun.

Stefan Ponce: Chance had asked Donald to get on it and when he did, I was living with Donald at that point. He had asked me while he was writing, “What’s like a place that kids go to buy clothes?” and I replied jokingly, “Abercrombie?” and he used that line, “You blast this shit in Abercrombie when your work is finished.”

{ "id": 133540403 } 9. "NaNa" (featuring Action Bronson) [Produced by brandUn DeShay]

brandUn DeShay: As far as all the joints that [Chance] recorded for Acid Rap go, I heard that “NaNa” was the first record he did, period. He came to the crib while I was living in Brooklyn and asked if I had any beats. I played him a few of my own records and he was instantly drawn to what I had for “NaNa.” He knew exactly what he wanted to do with it immediately. I made the beat originally when I was working with Mac Miller in 2011 during the time he was working on his acid-inspired project, Macadelic .

Austin Vesely: I remember going to Force One Seven and him doing “NaNa,” and seeing him trip on acid and write verses. It was really interesting as a friend to see him work that way. It was super creative.

Elton Chueng: I just remember those drums. They were so dope and had this crunch to it. I was listening to a lot of Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City then and I just remember how those drums sounded. The drums on “NaNa” were a loop and I really wanted them to smack. It was cool as hell to have Action Bronson on it. I thought his verse was hilarious.

brandUn DeShay: I thought the record was done for a long time but a couple days before it was supposed to come out, Chance sent me the final version and Bronson was on it. I’ll be honest, I was upset when I first heard it. Bronson is cool and he’s a great dude but at that time I wasn’t that into his music. I thought it was good enough with just Chance on it! But it’s since definitely grown on me.

Rich Gains: When you listen to the end of Bronson’s verse on this song, it’s the perfect intro to “Smoke Again” with his coughing and the beat drop.

{ "id": 133540402 } 10. "Smoke Again" (featuring Ab-Soul) [Produced by Blended Babies]

JP: We made that beat years before Chance had it and it was actually one of our favorite beats. It had a really messed up name “Chingy Mungy” and I think that’s one of the reasons Chance clicked on it when he was over at our spot in Los Angeles. He just stumbled upon it. We had played him maybe 50 beats and that’s what he stopped on.

Rich Gains: When we originally made the beat, we're at our home studio on Walton St. in Wicker Park. JP was messing around with this MOTIF keyboard and pretty much the whole beat got made on there.

JP: And then there was live drums on there. When Chance heard it in L.A., he looked at us and said, “This is going to be the single. This is going on the project I swear to god.” He wrote the whole thing right there.

Rich Gains: I didn’t believe him but it was nice. I was like, “Cool, man, let’s just make the song.”

Nico Segal: When Chance sent me the official feature list for Acid Rap , I was just blown away. I remember going crazy by the fact that he got Ab-Soul on his album. At that time, that was so big for me and I remember thinking that no matter what people are going to be into Chance’s tape. Because he was my friend that I knew he was an amazing rapper, but being gone with Frank Ocean and Kids These Days it seemed like all of the sudden he was an amazing rapper with people like Ab-Soul and Action Bronson on his tape.

Rich Gains: I’m going to be honest. When I first heard Ab-Soul’s verse, I thought, “I don’t fucking like this shit.” I had heard the Chance stuff so much and Soul came from such a different perspective. But after the second listen everything clicked. I love that verse now.

JP: Not a lot of people know this but Rich is actually on the hook on “Smoke Again.” The one thing about Chance is that his discernment was there even then. It was amazing. I was so taken aback by how he knew that beat was the one. He saw the vision and executed it.

{ "id": 133540409 } 11. "Acid Rain" [Produced by Jake One]

Elton Chueng: When we were recording Chance may have been shrooming, I couldn’t tell because I never do or knew people who do drugs, but I think he was on mushrooms. He had written the song that day and he was just going crazy kind of like how he was on “Everybody’s Something.” There was epiphany after epiphany, and then each piece would fit with another puzzle piece.

Austin Vesely: Rodney Kyles’ murder really changed 10 Day but it also affected Acid Rap . [Chance] was working through it on lines like, “My big homie died young; just turned older than him / I seen it happen, I seen it happen, I see it always.”

Elton Chueng: He wanted to be super-vulnerable on that one too in his takes. He spent maybe five hours writing and every now and again he’d turn around to Pat Corcoran and say, “You think it’s okay if I say this?” referring to the line, “And I still get jealous of Vic / And Vic's still jealous of me.” I just remember that being a special moment, where he wanted to be vulnerable but didn’t want to go too far. While Chance and Vic still go at it every now and again, they’re still brothers. Pat said to keep going and Chance kept writing.

Vic Mensa: It was real when I heard that. I was still with Kids These Days when it came out and I was in the van with all of them. The band was breaking up at that point, with seven people, and most of them were resenting me at that point. Chance was right because I was jealous. Here he was doing what he wants to do and I’m sitting here with a band that was breaking up, with people who want nothing to do with me, and feeling creatively stifled. It hit hard because there were plenty of times that he was jealous of me.

Andrew Barber: Pat gave me “Acid Rain” early before they dropped it. I played that record over and over again. [Chance's] rapping had only gotten better and was so next level.

Austin Vesely: It might be my favorite Chance song to this day, even. It came out right before the project came out and I hadn’t heard anything about it. Hearing it, there were just so many timely lyrics from his life and it was interesting to see the stuff he’d talk about in intimate moments with his friends in a song.

Vic Mensa: It was honest, man. I was actually taken aback by some of his honesty at some parts in the song. It was dope.

Elton Chueng: His wordplay was incredible and Jake One’s beat sounded amazing. Every word that he said it was clear that something was in the air. It was special. He recorded it in like 10 minutes. Everything he was saying just cut through.

{ "id": 133540410 } 12. "Chain Smoker" [Produced by Nate Fox]

Nate Fox: Making “Chain Smoker” offered a lot of insight for me into Chance’s process, more so than “Pusha Man” because I wasn’t really around when he was recording those verses. “Chain Smoker” originally started as my own song and when I played it for Chance, he had this vision of making a song with Prince-inspired background vocals.

Elton Chueng: Chance just wanted to do something super Prince-y. This was supposed to be his “Purple Rain” or whatever. This one was also supposed to be the outro and the mixtape closer. Nate Fox just killed it again.

Nate Fox: To Chance, I think he thought of “Chain Smoker” as his first opportunity to really be that Michael Jackson, Prince-type: creating a dance song that he could make choreography to. You could see him making moves with his hands and his body while he was writing to it. I really learned a lot about the way Chance listens to music and his process. That sort of vision would evolve to Coloring Book , because when he were writing for that he said, “I have this idea that the single is going to start with the 'if one more label try to stop me' line.” He said to create a song around that sentiment. He’s been consistent with his vision ever since.

Elton Chueng: I remember, again, being really into Good Kid , so I went overboard with the drums. I wanted them to hit super-hard on an earlier version. Chance had caught it and said, “Hey, those hi-hats sound a little weird” and Pat chimed in, “Yeah! They sound wack!” They gave me the reference of what they wanted it to sound like and we worked it out. That’s why it was so special because everyone was able to say how they felt. For Acid Rap in particular, the art was the priority over our egos. Pat was able to say it was wack and I knew it was and got back to work. It shows for everyone. The songs spoke for themselves. With “Chain Smoker,” something as simple as just being honest with the drum sound allowed it to get where it needed to be.

Nate Fox: Pat was present and involved throughout this whole experience. He’s the unsung hero of this Acid Rap situation. He has no problem giving his opinion or lending his ear. It’s one of the most special things he brings as a manager is his 100% honesty. If Chance insists, he’ll always let up because Chance is the artist but with Pat, you’re always so grateful for him because so many people will just give you garbage and what you want to hear. He’s just unfiltered and helpful in the best way.  

{ "id": 133540408 } 13. "Everything's Good (Good Ass Outro)" [Produced by Cam O'bi]

Cam O’bi: Towards the end of the mixtape process, Chance was looking for new beats so he asked me if I had anything to send him. Normally, I like to start songs from scratch but he didn’t have the time to do that so I sent him that beat and a few others. We did a session for it and I watched him write that whole song while he was sitting in the studio for a few hours.

Papi Beatz: Chance’s father called at one point when I was in the studio and Chance was in the vocal booth. For some reason, Chance told me to press record. Normally, I wouldn’t be chill with recording someone without their consent but lo and behold, Chance’s dad starts saying the most heartfelt and lovely things to his son. I remember everyone in the studio was reaching for a Kleenex.

Cam O’bi: It was a super-organic, spur-of-the-moment decision. Chance told us after he got off the phone that he knew that was going to happen because whenever his dad calls him he always says all these nice, sentimental things.

Elton Chueng: It was so amazing. I think it sums up Acid Rap really well.

Papi Beatz: It was such a magical moment. Besides Chance’s talent, there’s something so genuine behind him.

Andrew Barber: One label A&R who I was friends with, Riggs Morales, who works at Atlantic, asked me to introduce him to Chance and Pat. We went to lunch at Big Star and then we went to a studio at the Music Garage. He played us what would become Acid Rap . It was probably a month before release and the memory that sticks out to me was “Everything’s Good (Good Ass Outro).” This was right after his dad had called him while he was in the booth. I remember saying, “Dude, you have to add that. This is your outro. This could be one of the dopest outros since Kanye’s ‘Last Call.’” That’s when I knew it was about to pop off.

Cam O’bi: I remember later that Chance got Nico on the track because he wanted him to interpolate that Common “Faithful” sample.

Nico Segal: I played on one song on Acid Rap because I was on tour with Frank for the rest of the whole process and I just wasn’t around. Compared to 10 Day or any future project. I remember recording “Everything’s Good (Good Ass Outro)” at Rockie Fresh’s studio down the hall from Kids These Days’ in the Music Garage.

J.P Floyd: It’s funny that I was only on “Good Ass Intro” and Nico was only on “Good Ass Outro.” We live together now and have always played together. We didn’t do the same session at all but it all sounded so cohesive. 

Nico Segal: I actually remember this being a pretty frustrating session for me. It was still pretty early in my “recording the trumpet” phase of my life and I feel like it wasn’t my best playing, feeling, or day. Everything’s a learning process and while I wasn’t too confident in those takes, I was so happy that Chance liked it. Cam and Chance were both into it and I remember that feeling of gratitude and letting go of my insecurities.

Elton Chueng: That song was actually mixed the night before Acid Rap was supposed to come out. I remember damn near having a panic attack because of it. I took a break from mixing it and I went into the Red Room at Classick Studios and my friend said, “Are you ready for the world to hear this album? If you don’t finish this the world is going to be mad.” That's the worst thing you can possibly hear on a deadline. Everything worked out. Everything was so special for everyone throughout and it was just captured. Chance also had this idea to have the mixtape sound like an infinite loop but I made it so that when you finish listening to “Everything’s Good (Good Ass Outro)” and the whole project on repeat Lili K’s vocals on “Good Ass Intro” come in on time.

Chance performing at Lollapalooza 2013 | Image via Erika Goldring/FilmMagic/Getty

Post-Release 

Andrew Barber: The day of the release, the mixtape leaked. It’s crazy that it’s a free mixtape and it leaked on the day of its release! So I put it on the site and my site crashed for a few hours. That had only happened one other time, which was when I got to premiere the remix of “I Don’t Like.” I don’t even remember how it leaked and I still don’t think anyone got to the bottom of it.

Twista: I knew Acid Rap was something new when I first heard it. I had the same but slightly different feeling when I heard Nas’ Illmatic or Biggie’s album—nothing sounded like this. Same goes for Snoop’s album [ Doggystyle ]. As a hip-hop fan and a music fan in general, with Chance’s project, I was like, “Damn, this is still happening in my lifetime where I’m hearing someone coming with something so different and unique. It’s what hip-hop was building to.”

Elton Chueng: Post- Acid Rap , I didn’t really go out much but I just didn’t realize how big of a song that was. One time I was at a bar in Logan Square and saw that they were playing “Favorite Song.” Everyone around me was just going crazy. Working in the studio so much, I didn’t really get a chance to see how much this music we made resonated with people. You can see some posts online but it’s different when you see people reacting to it in real time.

Nate Fox: After the tape came out, I was back in Pittsburgh working construction so I had no idea how it was initially received. On the job, Jeff Vaughn from Atlantic called me and he said, “Is this Nate Fox?” and I had no idea how he got my number but he said, “You do realize this is the biggest album in the country right now?” All I knew was that I had to knock down walls with a sledgehammer that day.

J.P. Floyd: When Acid Rap dropped, Nico Segal and I were on tour with Frank Ocean. We’d retweet and spread the word but we weren’t actually in Chicago when it was happening. We would see more and more people spreading the word and publications picking it up. It was insane. In Australia, on the tail end of the tour, we were sitting in a Melbourne bar and they were playing Acid Rap . I heard my trombone and I couldn’t believe it. It was out of nowhere. It was so crazy to see something this special over Twitter. It’s mind blowing and even when Kids These Days took off it felt like a different life. The impact that Acid Rap had, it’s really crazy to look back on five years ago and to look back on where we’re all at now.

Nico Segal: Hearing Acid Rap in full with J.P. at that Melbourne bar completely blew my mind. It was a total shift in our heads about what was really happening and how big this was. We knew our friends were into but we didn’t realize the magnitude of it. At that time, rap blogs were the world to us but this was even more than that. It’s crazy that I wasn’t around for it but as soon as I got back Chance wanted me to go on tour.

Nate Fox: I remember on that first Acid Rap tour people would take the concept of acid rap so seriously that they’d show up to our shows tripping their balls off. The project’s been interpreted in different ways for sure. We all had a conscious moment on that tour where we had a conversation that this isn’t what we wanted to promote. Instead of focusing on substance use, we wanted to instead look to spirituality and creativity. We didn’t just have that shift in what we promoted and how we carried ourselves, but musically too. That’s what you saw in “Sunday Candy.”

{ "id": 133540413 } "Chance told us after he got off the phone that he knew that was going to happen because whenever his dad calls him he always says all these nice, sentimental things." —Cam O'Bi

Peter CottonTale: We learned so much doing this project. It was just a group of people being inspired together. We did music every day, combined our work ethic with our passion, and got something innovative out of it.

Papi Beatz: This whole process felt like the epitome of doing what you love. I didn’t realize it had even been five years before I was hit up for this interview. Those songs have really stood the test of time. Half of a decade is a long time in today’s music but I know this has already solidified itself as a classic.

Elton Chueng: I love Acid Rap . This was my first project. It was dope because I’d never mixed a whole full-length. Because it was Acid Rap , I could show off what I could actually do. I’m so grateful. It opened up a whole lot of doors for me. I think it’s a classic and it’s been told to me so many times over how it’s inspired people. We were all extremely broke at the time but that didn’t matter. The music came first.

Nate Fox: What’s so amazing is that pretty much everyone who worked on this project was in a similar creative space, especially the Chicago folks. Everyone had been waiting to do something this important and they felt like they could just throw out all these ideas and freely create. Chance loves that. He loves to rebound and talk through ideas. I don’t think anyone from the producers, the featured artists, the engineers, anyone involved at all has backtracked creatively or professionally since Acid Rap came out. And everyone comes back to each other and still collaborates. Noname, Elton, and Cam O’bi made a whole album together! That’s just one example.

Cam O’bi: Still, to this day, the impact that this project has had is hard to fathom. People have told me a bunch of times about how that project ended up starting a new sound or a new trend in Chicago hip-hop that ended up being globally recognized. It blows my mind to this day. It’s surreal. It feels like the fulfillment of my dreams because I had always wanted to be a part of something like this and make an impact musically since I was a kid.

Stefan Ponce: I saw a meme that said “best mixtapes of all time. Fight me!” and it had Acid Rap on there and it blew my mind. It’s dope. Because I was so involved I never really thought about it that way, but it was really like being involved with The College Dropout .

Ludwig Göransson: The songs are just so good. It’s incredible songwriting. I can still listen to these songs today and not realize that it’s five years old. People are going to want to be listening to it again and again well into the future.

Andrew Barber: Acid Rap was the perfect storm of just everything. Everyone was just ready for this. You had the right artist, the right sound, the right city, the right message, everyone was excited about, and you had the most perfect group of people behind it. You can’t fabricate that or go to a lab and make that. It was so organic and it was very real.

{ "id": 133540412 } "We learned so much doing this project. It was just a group of people being inspired together." —Peter Cottontale

Michael Kolar: You feel vindicated in a certain way with a project like this. At that point in Chicago, it felt like so many people outside of the city were focused on one type of music coming from here: drill. And I love drill and have recorded so many things by Young Chop, Lil Durk, and others, but I remember being out on trips to New York and having those people only focus on those acts. I’d say Chicago is just getting started. I look back at that time of Chance and all of his music friends finding their sound and there was so much creativity, innocence, and in some ways, naivete. It was such a happy time and I had such a good vibe from that era with all these young people coming together and working and showing that Chicago is a city of unity. I was the older guy remembering a very different era in this city and that was so refreshing.

Andrew Barber: It was time to let everyone know that there was this new, equally exciting generation showing an alternative side of Chicago. It was so exciting and Chance just kicked all the doors down. Chicago was completely on the map at that point. I remember during the 2012 Chicago boom, where labels were signing artists left and right, someone was telling me that Chicago hip-hop would be a flash in the pan and we should just enjoy our moment. They were so wrong. You couldn’t stop it. Chicago is no one-trick pony and Chance really shook things up. He didn’t even need to sign. From that first day, he had a plan.

Na’el Shehade: It’s historic. When you’re an artist and you have that first project that gets you to where you want to be, you can never duplicate that. To be a part of that history was amazing. There was a select few who were a part of it. A lot of artists have come to me to ask if they can do what Chance did and while it’s possible, he had everything necessary and everything aligned for him. It wasn’t about the money. It was secondary to what everyone wanted. It just revolved around the music. It’s the best project I’ve ever worked on in my life.

Austin Vesely: It’s hard to believe. It was a really important time in my life. You can’t underestimate how rare it is to see someone so close to you become a superstar in your own eyes. I believed in him and that’s why I worked with him so much early on. A year goes by and Chance was more than he was at the beginning and it just keeps going exponentially. I remember when it came out, I’d just bump it on Lake Shore Drive and beyond him just being my friend, it was incredible music.

Nate Fox: Five years later, I’m just blown away. During the time we made it, although it all felt special, I don’t think any of us had a clue how impactful it would be on our lives and on other people’s lives. I definitely have received more personal messages from fans about Acid Rap songs than anything else I’ve worked on. There are a lot of albums that came out five years ago but there is something about Chance, Acid Rap , and all the people who worked on it that the story is way deeper than just a regular full-length.

Twista: I knew something like this would happen in Chicago. That was no surprise to me because Chicago is so diverse. What else would you expect to get from the middle of the map? I’m hearing so much different music from here but Chance was able to combine all of those sounds. I’m so glad to be a part of something so historic, to watch his growth, and also see him stay true to himself. He’s so charismatic and needs that freedom to create.

Vic Mensa: It was like our own Harlem Renaissance in Chicago. There were just so many talented people really just making music that completely unrelated to what was commercially popular at the time. It was special because we didn’t even think about that. It never occurred to us that we should be catering to that. Around that same time you had drill break through too. It really felt like Chicago was on top of the world.

Lili K: It’s crazy to see how much it did. For me personally, I have a slightly different experience because there were some issues with proper crediting after it came out. Like, it’s so weird and sometimes pretty funny because so many people I’ve met have heard me sing but they don’t know that it’s me. I’m still super honored and super proud to be a part of it, and looking back it’s so clear that Chance killed it and made a really amazing career out of it. Overall, it’s a positive experience and it was so great to be a small part of this new Chicago wave.

Vic Mensa: That time period was special, man. I don’t want to say that we were naive but we were all so ambitious. Everything was a hustle and there were no resources. We were just trying to record in any studio we could, doing features for a couple hundred bucks and scraping change out of my mama’s couch to get together money for studio time.

Austin Vesely: I look back on that time as just it being the halcyon days of being a kid. I don’t know how Chance feels exactly but to me it seems like that was the last time he was afforded that amount of freedom where he could just run around and be a kid. People weren’t expecting what he could come up with and he definitely blew everyone away. You hear how much it’s changed in that song he put out last year, “First World Problems.” This time was such a nice memory.  

Nico Segal: I keep coming back to when Chance came down to Kids These Days’ studio at the Music Garage and played 5 Day for us for the first time. It made us want to go out and pass mixtapes around downtown with him. That was a big thing for me and how we looked at passing around music and how literal it is having our music pass from one hand to another. We get lost in that in the internet world. That was never our mentality: Our mentality now is the same as it was when we were passing out those burned CDs, except multiplied for the internet. We really want to talk to people and we really want to engage with them and have them know that we’re like them. Acid Rap had a lot to do with how we all think about putting out music and had such a huge impact on all of our lives. My friend killed it.

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Chance the rapper’s ‘star line’ mixtape is aptly named with features from lil wayne, lil yachty, and t-pain.

The Chicago artist has been teasing this project since 2022.

By Armon Sadler

Armon Sadler

Hip-Hop Reporter

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For those who were waiting for new Chance The Rapper music , you’re in luck. The Chicago artist revealed the tracklist for his forthcoming mixtape Star Line .

The excitement came with cameo appearances by artists who will be featured on the album, namely Lil Wayne , Lil Yachty, T-Pain, DJ Premier, Jermaine Dupri , Jazze Pha, and Vic Mensa.

I’ll be ready to go pic.twitter.com/zYliNZJsjj — Chance The Rapper (@chancetherapper) April 21, 2024

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Chance The Rapper (@chancetherapper)

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“No drop an album,” one user wrote. “That boy rapping [with] passion again,” another fan commented. “I love when yo heart bleed out like this man. Fav ‘version’ of you,” another user wrote. It appears there is a lot of positivity for Chance, especially given the fact he hasn’t released an LP since 2019’s The Big Day .

In December 2022, he spoke with VIBE about his creative process while working on Star Line , which was originally titled Star Line Gallery , and his desire to do more than just prove he can rap well. “When I first started [working on the new album], every song was kind of like ‘The Heart & The Tongue’ and not in terms of production, but just in terms of it was very rappy,” he said. “I think in time, I’ve naturally grown and had so many different experiences that have catered it to move more towards substance that, it’s still rappy, but now I feel like ‘The Highs & The Lows’ verse, I feel, was very, very vulnerable.”

Earlier this year, he shared “I Will Be Your (Black Star Line Freestyle)” which sampled Stephanie Mills’ 1981 R&B record, “Don’t Stop Doin’ What ‘Cha Do.” Last year, he released the 10th-anniversary edition of his seminal mixtape Acid Rap and also appeared on Madeintyo’s “BET UNCUT” which also featured Smino.

It seems like the wait is over and Chance is ready to remind people what he can do on wax. It’s now just a matter of when Star Line will come out.

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