So...I'm not CRAZY about Chance The Rapper.
He's had some really cool guest verses, and Cocoa Butter Kisses did help me get over my dog dying, but overall I'm not his biggest fan. He kind of reminds me of Kendrick Lamar if he lost his virginity like 3 years earlier. However I've noticed that people love him the way I love Guwop so I had to check this out.
He's a real interesting dude, never dropped a commercial album but he's performed on SNL and helped redesign the Chicago White Sox hat. Thats pretty crazy for a 23 year old. I think that might be my problem with Chance, he's just this big ball of talent and he legally can't rent a car. I listen to him the same way I watch College Basketball, just amazed while still filled with resentment. I know I can't dunk or rap, but dammit man why are these young niggas more talented than me??
Anyway thats the mindset I had before Coloring Book. Now onto the music.
Chance the Rapper be rapping. No one can deny that. But sometimes I don't know what the hell he's rapping about. Like theres one song Im pretty sure is about being Peter Pan and then theres another about having goons, like I'm lost. This tape feels like I fell sleep watching Saturday morning cartoons and old episodes of Gangland at the same time. Also this is somehow a gospel rap album, but he's got songs about fucking. Its weird to go from finding God to finding the G-Spot.
When Chance said "I met Kanye West I'm never going to fail" I felt it. That moment changed his life. It also changed the way both of them made music. The excitement Kanye West has about Chance the Rapper is the excitement a father gets when his son starts speaking; he wants to give Chance the whole world. To me this mixtape is Chance making his interpretation of Kanye album, tons of features used in unorthodox ways, aspirations of future greatness and frustrations that he can't do more.
Now I feel bad because after all this, I'm still not crazy about the tape or Chance. I get that he's great, I get that he's talented, I get that he's breaking barriers. But I just don't 100 percent connect with the music. I remember when I was younger I played the Sims, I wanted my Sim to be friends with everyone else, unfortunately there was one that wouldn't be friends with my little homie. They talked everyday for hours, but the friendship icon would never pop up. The game told me this "some people just aren't going to be friends, it's not that they hate each other, or one is a bad person, they just won't be friends" and that sentiment has stayed with me for years. This is a great metaphor for how I feel about Coloring Book. But life isn't the sims, so my feelings may change in the future.
I give this 8 denim overalls out of 10.