AOTW: Acid Rap

iGH!

during a time period where drill rap was very popular in the chicago scene, chancelor johnathan bennet, known as chance the rapper, made a decision that shifted the entire direction of chicago hip-hop. with production from peter cottontale, cam o'bi and nate fox, acid rap released in 2013. 

the project had a good blend of hip-hop mixed with gospel harmonies and chicago juke. the introduction to the album samples kanye west, and sets a very energetic, church choir like energy that carries through the entire album listening experience, even through lower points in the album.   

acid rap balanced the "happy go lucky" stoner energy with the traumatic struggles of growing up in the southside of chicago. chance does well to visualize this and make it relatable with track 4, cocoa butter kisses. here chance (featuring vic mensa and twista) is seen rapping about how the use of substances has the ability to create distance between someone and their family. 

chance and his very well known "IGH!" ADLIB is spread out quite well in this album, and it does well to visualize the real scenes of life in the hood, where the joys and highs are high, but there's always underlying tension in the streets. as an independent artist, chance showed very well how, without the help of a label, one can still make good music that even reaches the mainstream scene.  
10/10