In a nutshell, Bored & Dangerous says: “I went into Coloring Book worried that I had built Chance the Rapper up too much in my head, based on too little. Turns out, those hopes weren’t high enough.”
Chance the Rapper is a dude who I have only ever seen and heard through guest verses on other people’s songs. I like what he did with Kanye and I was a big fan of what he did with Action Bronson. It’s because I like those little snippets of him so much, that I have been so lazy in getting around to his latest LP, Coloring Book. I dug his guest spots so much, I was worried I’d have too high expectations of an entire album and come away disappointed. But I’m a trooper, so I jumped in anyway.
The great mix of a vintage, jazz trumpet, with the signature Chance the Rapper weird yelps last upwards of five seconds before All We Got gives way to a flow so precise and natural, it goes beyond sounding written and rehearsed, and becomes more like it’s as much a part of his everyday life as breathing. Then it’s time for some standard hip hop hubris on No Problem, opening with a threat to labels dumb enough not to take a chance on Chance. But there’s a wink and sense of humour to his delivery that makes it sound a lot more endearing and self aware than your standard insecure rap braggery. (more…)