My brothers and I have been fans of Chance the Rapper since his first mixtape, “10 Day,” dropped in 2011. So when our friend, a sophomore at Ohio State University, got us tickets to Chance’s OSU performance at the LC Pavilion Monday night, we jumped at them.
When Chance the Rapper came on stage, he reminded me and everyone else why this 21-year old mixtape king is already doing national tours. His first step onstage wasn’t so much a step at all; it was a leap. Chance is, apparently, his own hype man. The way the crowd started screaming and chanting “Chance the Rapper, Chance the Rapper,” it was obvious that Chance needs no formal introduction. He started with a few tunes from his “10 Day” mixtape before moving on to his “Acid Rap” mixtape songs, a few throwbacks to his early works and a cover of “Wonderful Day,” the theme song to the PBS cartoon “Arthur.”
“I guess I should properly introduce myself,” he said to the crowd. Taking a brief bow as if he was the conductor of an orchestra, he continued.
“My name is Chance the Rapper, and I’m here today to sing you a couple of songs from my new mixtape.”
Chance sounded exactly like I wanted him to; when he began singing, his voice was as clear and as personal as it is while I sit at my computer and blast his full album on YouTube. His voice isn’t the only thing that rings clear, though. The political commentary in his songs hit me with a stronger impact than any other rapper I’ve ever seen (a list that includes Nas, Most Def and Lupe Fiasco).
“They murder kids out here. Get Matt Lauer in here, Katie Couric in here,” he rapped about his hometown of Chicago in his song “Paranoia.”
When Chance is performing, he is highly attentive to his audience. He would often stop talking to throw a “woo hoo” at the audience, to which they would respond with a “woo hoo” to be returned to him. At one point in the show, Chance called out those on their phones, saying, “It’s cool if you want to film the show, but be part of the show.”
Chance has an incredible ability to entertain. Labeling himself solely as a rapper really doesn’t do him justice whatsoever; by doing so, he’s selling himself short.