Chance The Rapper celebrates union on his triumphant studio release The Big Day
Music Reviews music review
Since his 2012 debut mixtape, 10 Day, Chance The Rapper, a.k.a. Chancellor Bennett, has become a sensei-master of self-released distribution strategy, delayed gratification, and pioneering rap music. This makes The Big Day, his first formal album release, an atypical “debut” in more ways than one. While its kaleidoscopic, all-encompassing fusion of hip-hop, pop, soul, juke, jazz, and gospel could very well be labeled “wedding rap” (the album’s thematic premise revolves around Chance’s rite of passage from adolescence to adulthood and discovery of love, ultimately culminating in his recent marriage to Kirsten Corley), the album’s independent release also flies in the face of the traditional music industry zeitgeist. It’s an uncompromisingly individualistic effort that further cements Chance’s meteoric ascent from Chicago South Side rapper to global superstar.
Lil Chano from the 79th has been speaking to us all along, devoid of corporate interests (well, besides Doritos) and anything that would separate his listeners from the music. This laser focus on accessibility blurred the lines between mixtape and album so completely that we could no longer tell the difference between them, showcasing just how arbitrary the distinction was to begin with when stripped of licensing and royalty interests. If Chance’s intrepid, life-affirming acid-raps were first budding on 10 Day, blossoming on 2013’s Acid Rap, and in full bloom on 2016’s Coloring Book (the first streaming-only album to win a Grammy), The Big Day is a rare bouquet on full display; a stunningly realized array of color, sound, and sensation that swallows the room. Any structure at risk of pop cliché finds new life through Chance, whose mastery of composition creates spins on existing musical archetypes like new synaptic grooves being carved out for the very first time.
On “All Day Long,” the rapper nods to his string of previous releases by leaping into the triumphant lead track with his familiar re-introduction “And we back,” the same call to attention that launched Acid Rap and Coloring Book. The song, featuring John Legend, is a buoyant gospel-rap red carpet leading into the album.
Chance has a supreme knack for imbuing brand-new songs with the fuzzy nostalgia of the familiar: ad-libs, snippets, and one-liners that make his discography feel like sewn-together patches of a single technicolor tapestry. So when on the record’s second verse he raps “Bomb b-bombastic, used to drop acid / Marley come soon, I only drop classics,” we flashback to an era when we were first meeting Chance on 2013’s “Acid Rain”: “Tripped acid in the rain / Wore my jacket as a cape and my umbrella as a cane.” Back then, Lil Chano’s candor made him instantly likable as rap music’s drugged-out outsider. Now that he’s on the inside, the only thing that’s lost is the underdog story.
The Big Day vacillates between moods and motifs rapidly enough to keep heads swiveling, while the vast range of collaborations and cross-genre mingling becomes evident as early as the second track. On “Do You Remember,” Death Cab For Cutie’s Benjamin Gibbard stirs summertime nostalgia reminiscent of 2016’s “Summertime Friends” with a sun-drenched hook. The album hops from scintillatingly bright gospel tracks like “Eternal” to the bass-laden “Hot Shower,” the album’s first trunk-rattler, where Chance coasts across stretched-out syllables alongside DaBaby and MadeinTYO. “We Go High” renders the height of vulnerability on the project, as he explores infidelity and the tormenting prospect of love fading after breached trust. Chance is at his best during moments like these, delivering confessional rap meditations over choral crooning: “It’s true, God, this union was for you, God / We standin’ at the stoop, we want to make it to the rooftop / You told us bring some people through, we tried to bring a few, God / We tried to form a new bar, just tell us what to do, God.”
Chance’s brother Taylor Bennett is featured on the ominous “Roo,” a painstakingly assembled track detailing turbulent childhood memories but affirming family bonds. Other highlights (of which there are many) are closer to the mainstream, like Francis And The Lights and Justin Vernon’s contribution to “The Big Day,” Timbaland’s brooding beat for “Big Fish” (which comes with the iciest Gucci Mane verse in recent memory), and multiple appearances from Nicki Minaj on instantly quotable “Slide Around” and album closer “Zanies And Fools.” While the later track provides an inspiring, upbeat Afrocentric outro, it’s also attracted attention for Nicki’s lyrical breadcrumbs pertaining to her marriage and pregnancy.
The album isn’t wholly without misfires, like the torrent of abrupt screaming found midway through “The Big Day” or the Baltimore/Jersey Club-inspired outro on juke jam “Found A Good One (Single No More),” which, while ambitious, could just as easily clear the dance floor as fill it. Still, Chance wins the day by doing what he does best: disrupting convention, speaking truth, and keeping friends close but family closer. And Chance’s rap aphorisms are still second to none as he assures us the long road ahead isn’t to be feared, even as we journey toward our own life milestones: “Are you ready for the big day? I don’t know, but you’re well on your way…”
By any measure, The Big Day is a watershed moment—not just because Chance has so adeptly turned an industry on its head, but because it’s the zenith of an entire career spent demonstrating that when Chance raps, he raps from the heart. Maybe that’s why when we get to know Chance The Rapper, it feels a lot like getting to know ourselves.
64 Comments
Counterpoint: this album was butt.
I’ve listened a few times, I really enjoy the vibe and the production. My main complaint is that it’s so damn long it kinda all blends together, but maybe that’s on me.
I can’t comment on this album specifically because I haven’t listened yet, but that is definitely a broader downside of the shift to streaming. Now that artists don’t have to fit their album/mixtape on a physical disc/record/cassette with limited room, there’s an inclination towards bloat. Drake is especially guilty of this.
From my understanding it has less to do with the (non)limitations of the medium and more to do with gaming the streaming charts and getting that sweet fraction of a cent royalty for every track.
I like some of Drake’s music, but his release of More Life and Scorpion really left a bad taste in my mouth. Both albums are more than 20 tracks long. That’s insane. Any novelty of his new music gets lost after maybe 6 songs.I always wonder why these artists don’t just release 2 10-track albums a week apart, if only to avoid getting people fatigued by listening to your songs?
I actually liked More Life a lot because it did feel more like a “playlist” than an album (mainly because Drake definitely took a backseat on many of the songs). But Views was long and Scorpion was hella long. Even If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late was long. I think Drake’s always had some bloat to his projects, but now he’s getting really carried away.
rap albums are WAY less bloated now than they used to be, overall. this record is an exception.
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i don’t know. i don’t hate the album but for me its his second miss. since coloring book i’ve felt like he’s leaned way too hard into self-righteousness. his work, to me, in recent years has just felt like a pseudo-messianic megachurch sermon. i’m disappointed but i have so much love for 10 days and acid rap that i’m happy his new work seems to connect with people even if it isn’t for me.
counterpoint: this record is a new low for Chance and solidifies the creative collapse of his career for me. only gone through it twice but currently sitting at a C- or so
This album proves that Chance peaked with Acid Rap.
i can see why people would like his preachiness i guess but it was almost instantly tired to me. the last album focused on that aspect and this one just doubles down on it. its really impossible for me to see him returning to the druggy yet inspired vibe of acid rap now. i guess im out on chance.
absolutely. some good songs but “Hot Shower” and most of the second half are embarrassingly bad, I don’t know what he was thinking
Hot Shower is a jam and my favorite song on the album. Harummph, sir.
Worse than Coloring Book?It’s still a goddamn travesty that repetitive, trite bullshit beat out …and the Anonymous Nobody for best Hip Hop album.
As someone who’s not listened to Chance the Rapper before (minus a few guests he’s had), I gotta say I LOVE this album. I missed the drugged bouts of genius he’s made a name out of, but these tracks exuded a clarity of mind and self that’s super refreshing. These are the sounds of growing up, something I’m personally drawn to I suppose.I’m certainly interested in going back through his mixtapes though.
This album is getting absolutely scorched by people online and I’ve just been listening to it and loving it all weekend so I’m glad to see I’m not all alone on my adoration of it!
This is such a boring and contrived album. Sobriety really can kill an artist’s career #amiright
I haaaaate the idea that artists must be tortured and messy to make good work, but Chance keeps provin me wrong
I’m with you there.
Surprised by how divisive the album’s been and glad I was able to listen to it before all the hot takes. I love it. It’s definitely a bit long and poppier than anything Chance has done before, but I think it’s an excellently produced, joyous album. I don’t know how I would rank it with his other releases, but I’m not disappointed in the slightest.
Poppier than Coloring Book?Gross.
How much did Chance the Rapper pay you to write this? Album is ass.
Glad you love it, but for me it has some great moments within the songs but nothing really stands out as a single track. It’s certainly not bad, it’s just hard for me to connect with. Not sure if it’s the length or just having so many ideas and not a tough editor (or self-editor). I’ll try it again but definitely a disappointment (so far I like 5 Year Plan the most.)
This is a calcluated, shiny and ultimately horrible record. Saccharine to the point of nauseous. I say this as a fan of Chance. I cannot believe this was awarded an A. Maybe it’s me
If you know a person who can’t stop talking about how great their girlfriend or boyfriend is, that person is always annoying. If you know a person who can’t stop talking about how great their wife or husband is, that person is insane and extremely annoying. Now it’s just 22 tracks of preachy Chance talking about how great his wife is.
There is no more annoying trend in popular music right now than talented artists like Chance (Vampire Weekend and Flying Lotus also this year) releasing what is essentially an album buried in a sea of demos, b-sides, and half-baked ideas. Like it’s fine if Drake wants to shovel dogshit down his fans’ mouths, but I expect Chance to take a cue from artists like Flume, Kendrick, Blood Orange, and Denzel Curry, who have stuck to the old school method of releasing albums and EPs of extra material, rather than sacrificing the quality of the main album to cram every last idea in there and wring every last penny from consumers. I look at the track list for an album like the Big Day and barring some extremely lavish magnum opus, I expect to have to sift through lots of bleh to find the songs that were actually worthy of an album release. There’s often little attention to sequencing and no attention to cohesion. It’s disappointing and shitty, but also might just be part of the shift away from albums being the main unit of music consumption. I like Chance and there are some good tracks on here, but the idea that this could be an A album is laughable, especially compared to something as bold as Acid Rap. This does probably have the highest quality mix of any of his projects, especially compared to how muddy things got on Coloring Book, so I’m glad his vision is at least getting out fully formed, even if that vision is a bit of a mess. But, hey, all the white girls ik seem to love this even more than Coloring Book, so I’m sure watering down his sound is working like gangbusters
VW’s album was great. It’s definitely not a bunch of demos and b-sides, it’s as cohesive as any of their other albums.
I would agree that out of the albums I mentioned, it’s the best, but it doesn’t live up to Modern Vampires for me. I think VW is in a very transitional phase anyway, with Rostam leaving and such a long break, so it makes sense they would be experimenting and stretching out a little bit. I guess the trend is most common in popular hip hop, with Drake and Migos being the biggest offenders to my mind
FOTB is the most sonically detailed album of the VW discography. The attention to detail is apparent on every song. I do believe it’s too long, but man oh man, did they ever layer the shit out of every track. Weird vocal filters, instrumentation, etc. I highly recommend a headphone listen to anyone who cares about the little details. Chance though…I’m a husband and a father, so this should be in my wheelhouse, but it feels way too smooth, too long and too many downtempo songs. My final verdict is TBD, but damned if AV Club isn’t just replyieng for the hometown hero. Complete fucking joke to call this album an A. It’s a B at best.
Modern Vampires is probably a Top 5 or 10 album of the decade. Hard to declare FOTB a thrown together mix of b-sides because it doesn’t live up to that.
I agree for the first half of the album. Shit falls off the wheels in the second half.
You mentioned Blood Orange, but he just released an album, his debut if I’m not mistaken, of nothing but unfinished stuff. Really good stuff, to be sure, I can’t get enough, but super frustrating for the reasons you describe above.
That album is exactly what I’d prefer artists to do though. Idk how much it was marketed as leftovers from last year’s project, so if it wasn’t, I understand your frustration. I was told it was essentially a companion piece before I listened, so I knew what to expect. It’s probably not great marketing to highlight that it’s a b-sides album, but I prefer him to put Angel’s Pulse out separately from Negro Swan. That way, Negro Swan doesn’t become a bloated 1 hour and a half mess like The Big Day. I also wasn’t expecting anything from Blood Orange so soon and was pleasantly surprised, so I guess it just goes to show ya how the context we bring changes how much we enjoy something.
The Blood Orange that just came out was not his debut, and was a release of extras. Check out “Blood Orange” and “Negro Swan” if you want the Blood Orange album experience, both are fantastic
im really not feeling this at all to be honest. i didnt really enjoy coloring book either. i guess im just not into the direction chance has decided to take his music. the optimism just comes off as corny to me now.
You really giving this album a perfect score? Does AV Club not have any sort of quality control? I’m glad you enjoyed the album, but you still need to do your job. This is reads like a middle schooler doing a write up on his favorite musician for the school newspaper
No.I am the target audience for “Mature Chance.” Coloring Book is in my top 25 albums of the decade, Blessings (Reprise) in my top 15 songs. I’m eclectic but still religious and traditional; I value what Chance glorifies here. We Go High is my favorite on the album, if that tells you anything.This is not very good and it makes me sad. People can debate his flow and writing, so I’ll point out 3 indisputable problems.3. This is far more of a mixtape than his other albums, certainly Coloring Book, and it makes no sense. If he wanted to do a wedding playlist, the production certainly doesn’t drive the work the way Paul White did for Danny Brown or Mike Will Made it did for Kendrick Lamar. These songs are not the best versions of their genres. If he wanted something cohesive, he failed drastically. The songs don’t flow together, as a whole or in parts.2. He produced fantastic singles (that are still streaming-only!) that fit as much as anything else on here would, but left them out. How was 65th And Ingleside not the lead single?! It would be the best song on here and fits the purpose and sound of the album flawlessly.1. The features don’t fit the songs at all. The worst offender is Megan Thee Stallion. I do hate her work, but it goes beyond that. People dwell on whether or not her verse is “good” and fail to recognize that it makes no sense in the song or album. Chance talks about how his wife is beautiful in all stages of her life and that he really enjoys sex with her despite other people wanting him. Megan’s verse, if she’s “joining the conversation,” destroys the song. If she’s a separate “character,” her theme is, “I’ve had sex with a lot of people, but I’m temporarily with you because we’re rich and the sex is good.” Garbage. Did she hear the song before she wrote the verse?Those problems and his dysfunctionally small group of accepted critics (in real life and even detailed in the lyrics on this album!) makes me slightly worried that this is a permanent change. I’ll still be front row at his tour, though. He’s too good not to support.
I’m about to pull the extreme old person card, but what makes this release an album versus previous releases labeled as mix tapes? I genuinely do not understand and my cursory googling didn’t do much. I need the dope straight from the mouths of you youths.
Because he wants you to pay for it (rather than accepting a payment from Apple to stop anyone from listening to it without paying for Apple Music first).
In the grand scheme of rap, a mixtape is literally a mix of songs put on a tape. It’s not quite a demo – the songs are typically finished, and it’s not quite an EP – the songs aren’t always from the same session/era of the artist’s career. It’s really common for a rap artist’s first project to be a mixtape. Typically, when they’re entering the industry they bounce around various styles, partner with various producers and record in various studios or sometimes in home studios. A collection of these songs do not fit together thematically but might demonstrate the overall talent of the artist and they might feel there are too many to just release as singles, so they put them out as a mixtape. A studio album would be an artist signing a deal with a major label and recording a series of tight, thematically consistent songs that are meant to be played in a specific order.Chance kind of skirts the line of what is a mixtape though. His first release 10 Day is undoubtedly a mixtape, but Acid Rap comes off like an album. The production is immaculate, the themes and motifs stay consistent throughout the tape, and each song flows into the next. There’s even intros and interludes that tie the entire experience together. Coloring Book, his 3rd release is the same thing. It’s long been suspected that although these are labeled as “independently released mixtapes” that Chance has had a lot of financial backing, which certainly is okay but is slightly misleading. Even more to that point, this album is listed as his debut album, but is also “self released,” so I’m not sure why the last 2 releases weren’t considered debut albums.
Ok, cool. I really do appreciate the thorough and non-snarky response and now feel much more informed than I did before. Thank you!
Mixtapes get released for free is a big one. And since they’re not commercial releases, you get a lot of mixtapes with uncleared beats/samples that would never be released otherwise. It’s definitely kind of blurry, and has only gotten more so – people listening via streams instead of buying albums, the rise of free/pay-what-you-want albums, and more mixtapes being put on places like Spotify and Apple Music (as opposed to mixtape-specific download sites like DatPiff) have all eroded the line between mixtape and album.
Yikes, this review is all kinds of wrong. Chance always teetered between brilliance and catastrophe — his nasal singing voice is not good, but he seemed self-aware enough to wield it artfully. His best skills are his charisma and his Eminem-esque flow/wordplay. When he combines these two — as he did on almost all of Acid Rap — the results are astounding.On this heaping pile of saccharine waste, Chance leans away from the things that make him special and into the things that make him corny. This album is Common vaguely talking about AI on Microsoft commercials; it’s Ice Cube in Are We There Yet?.I was a teacher in Chicago Public Schools when 10 Day and Acid Rap came out, and I was front and center for his 2015 headlining show at Pitchfork Music Festival (it, to this day, is the best show I’ve ever been to — bar none). I want nothing more than Chicago’s favorite son to prove that you can still make vital hip-hop that’s positive and eschews misogyny and violence. Chicago is especially in need of a message like this. The Big Day, however, is not it at all.
accidental duplicate — plz delete
Ben Gibbard has the most cloying voice in popular music. seriously makes me wanna vom
You totally should, and then eat it!
You totally should, and then eat it!
You mean popular music in 2005?
he sings on the second song of this album. pretty sure this is popular music. ben gibbard sucked in 2005 too though for sure.
Yeah I find his presence on the second song of this album curious because I didn’t know anyone still liked DCFC. I will admit I was a big fan in 2005.
There’s a good 10 song album in here, but goddamn if this thing isn’t bloated as fuck. However, there was a great Chance album that dropped on Friday, only it was from YBN Cordae.
My take after the first listen is that after another listen or two I will cut it down to a playlist of about 7 or 8 songs and ignore the rest. Kind of which he had done that also, the skits were particularly meh.
Great. Now EVERYBODY’S gonna want to put out rap albums with Randy Newman.
I understand it’s just your opinion but have you no shame? This album is absolutely awful. How can you look at yourself in the mirror knowing you gave this absolute travesty a perfect score?
Naw. This album was trash. Some of the features on here are the only redeeming thing about it.
I guess I still need to listen to this to fully make my own opinion. I was not a fan of “coloring book” so was holding out expectations, but this review and the comments below make me think it will not be what I hope it is:-(. Which is a shame because “Acid Rap” was one of my favorite albums from the past 10 years.
I’m looking forward to him getting divorced so he writes better music
Let me share my review:2 THUMBS DOWN
I loved Coloring Book, Acid Rap, and 10 Day. I disagree with those that don’t like the Coloring Book vibe, but The Big Day is just boring. There are some good moments, but by the end of the album I had no interest in going back and finding them.
I don’t know what some of you commenters are going on about! This album is great! Also, I’m a dad.
Were you all paid off? LolI mean I get that people have different opinions, but giving this a perfect score feels almost like gaslighting. I literally don’t even want to listen to it a second time. Not because it’s like terrible, but I just literally have no desire to. It was long, boring and sort of uninspiring. It’s just wild to me that you all would slap an “A” on that as if this is the pinnacle of music. It wasn’t even the best album to come out that week.
Lol, time to turn in your music reviewing badge, champ! I get that you probably though this would be well-reviewed, but what a miss
Can we stop this bullshit narrative that this is in any way a debut?This is his 4th main project, plus donny trumpet plus a bunch of other smaller releases.Stop buying his dumbass spin that this is a watershed moment. It’s a mediocre album, that’s it.