Mixtape Review: Chance The Rapper - Acid Rap

Mixtape Review: Chance The Rapper – Acid Rap

Posted On: May 26, 2013
Posted By: odeisel
Comments: 0

By Odeisel

Over the past couple of years, Chicago has emerged with a large crop of young talent. Many of these young rappers hail from the impoverished streets of “Chiraq,” a nickname given to a city that boasts one of the highest murder rates in the country. That exposure to violence, particularly in the south side of the city, has filtered into this generation’s emerging Hip-Hop scene.

Rappers like Chief Keef, King L, Lil Reece and Tree, all either in their teens or early 20s, are making noise in the drill scene in Chicago, which consists of hard, frantic trap-style beats and equally menacing and fatalist lyrical content. Enter Chance the Rapper. While his very good debut mixtape 10 Day was overshadowed last year by the frenzied hi hats of “Don’t Like,” Chance the Rapper has the highest ceiling among Chi Town’s next generation of emcees.

Chance the Rapper dropped his 2^nd mixtape, Acid Rap two weeks after his 20^th birthday. Chance is a breath of fresh air in a city whose music is deep-rooted in cynicism. He will remind Hip-Hop fans that Chicago is responsible for some of the most innovative and creative minds in the culture: Kanye West, Common and Lupe Fiasco. The drugged-out emcee doesn’t ignore the violence that is prevalent in his hometown, which is the subject of stand out cuts like the two-part track Pusha Man and Acid Rain, but what separates him from his peers is his incredible versatility and budding superstar personality.

Chance’s strongest asset as a rapper is his unique voice, which is a cross between Danny Brown on XXX and Lil Wayne circa 2007. He also has a Kid Cudi-esque understanding of melody, as he perfects the sing-song flow on the banger Juice. Tracks like Juice and the Ab-Soul assisted Smoke Again have to make you think every major label is banging on Chance’s door because he is absolutely primed for pop stardom.

Even with his pop sensibilities and undeniable charisma, he can hang with the best of the Hip-Hop crowd, out-rapping the likes of Ab-Soul on the aforementioned Smoke Again and Action Bronson on NaNa. The most impressive feat Chance pulls off on Acid Rap is perfectly flipping the Slum Village classic Fall In Love on standout cut, Everybody’s Something.

Even though he missed the nod from XXL’s 2013 Freshman class, Chance the Rapper is one of the most exciting young artists to emerge in the past couple of years. Comparing the cigarette-toking Chance to the backpack-dawning, pre-College Dropout Kanye West is an obvious but appropriate comparison. It’s also a comparison that Chance is fully aware of, as he uses an interpolation of the John Legend crooning intro of Kanye’s I’m Good mixtape. On the “Good Ass Intro” BJ the Chicago Kid sings: “I’m good, better than the last time baby.” The most exciting part is that Chance IS good, and only going to continue to get better.

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