Chancelor Bennett (born April 16, 1993), better known by his stage name Chance The Rapper, is an American hip hop recording artist from the Chatham neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. In 2013, he began to gain major recognition following the release of his second mixtape Acid Rap.
Chance started showing interest in music at a young age, and in his freshman year of high school at Chicago's Jones College Prep High School, formed the hip-hop duo Instrumentality with a friend. He mentioned in an interview that fellow Chicago native Kanye West's 2004 debut album The College Dropout was the first hip-hop album that he ever purchased and listened to, previously being into soul and jazz.
At Jones College Prep High School, some of his teachers ridiculed his aspirations to become a musician. Following a 10-day suspension in early 2011 during his senior year "for weed related activities", Bennett recorded his first full-length project, a mixtape titled 10 Day. In December 2011, he released a song titled "Windows", and publicly announced his 10 Day project. After the song's release, in February 2012, Bennett was highlighted as one of Complex magazine's "10 New Chicago Rappers to Watch Out For." Bennett says he spent about eight months recording, writing and making connections off of the hunger to put out something. After about a year’s time of working on the tape, Bennett released it on April 3, 2012 and it has since been downloaded over 250,000 times via Datpiff. The mixtape was well received locally and would help Bennett make connections with producers such as Chuck Inglish , Kenny Jame$ and Blended Babies. The mixtape would also grab the attention of Forbes magazine, which featured it in the publication's Cheap Tunes column.
In July 2012, Bennett appeared on American rapper Childish Gambino's sixth mixtape Royalty, on the track "They Don't Like Me". Gambino would then ask Bennett to join his 2012 concert tour of North America, as his opening act.
Chance released his second mixtape Acid Rap, on April 30, 2013. On DatPiff it has been certified double platinum after being downloaded over 800,000 times. The mixtape features guest appearances from Twista, Vic Mensa, BJ the Chicago Kid, Action Bronson, Childish Gambino and Ab-Soul. Acid Rap was strongly praised by music critics and fans alike. At Metacritic, the mixtape received an average score of 86, based on 21 critics, which indicates "universal acclaim." It was also nominated for Best Mixtape at the 2013 BET Hip Hop Awards.
On May 6, 2013, after previously being featured as the hidden track on Acid Rap, a song titled "Paranoia", produced by Nosaj Thing, was released as a contribution to Yours Truly and Adidas originals "Songs from Scratch" series. In June 2013, Bennett was featured in a commercial for MySpace as part of their relaunch, alongside fellow American rappers Mac Miller, Pharrell and Schoolboy Q, among others. In early July 2013, Acid Rap debuted at number 63 on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums due to bootleg downloads on iTunes and Amazon. In August 2013, Bennett performed at the Chicago music festival Lollapalooza.
Acid Rap was listed on multiple 50 best albums of 2013 lists, including 26th for Rolling Stone, 12th on Pitchfork's list, and ranked 4th by Complex. It was also listed as one of NPR Music's 50 Favorite Albums Of 2013.
Chance embarked on his Social Experiment Tour, in Champaign, Illinois on October 25, 2013, lasting until December 19, 2013. He was also a featured artist on a track on Childish Gambino's album Because the Internet, which was released on December 6, 2013.
In March 2014, Bennett appeared in a shoppable online video for Dockers, promoting the brand's spring line, in which Bennett talks his style, love for creating music, and how it feels to live in Los Angeles. On May 5, 2014, XXL revealed Bennett was included in their annual freshman class, alongside fellow up-and-comers Isaiah Rashad, Ty Dolla $ign, Rich Homie Quan, Vic Mensa, August Alsina, Troy Ave, Kevin Gates, Lil Bibby, Jon Connor, Lil Durk and Jarren Benton. During Fall 2014, Bennett and other artists participated in Verge Campus tour. In November 2014, Bennett was presented Chicago's "Outstanding Youth of the Year Award" by Mayor Rahm Emanuel.
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