Chance The Rapper - Acid Rap [mixtape]

Chance The Rapper is from Chicago and has been getting a steady buzz in the past few months because his music has the warm soul of a young Kanye and the idiosyncratic writing and rapping skills of a certain Kendrick – two very good and exciting things. He released his second mixtape ‘Acid Rap’ overnight and it’s very good and exciting too.

It’s beautifully produced, first off, with a vivid palette influenced by Slum Village-type meditations and Organized Noize’s primal instincts, and he is backed by features from local legends like Twista and indie darlings like Action Bronson and Ab-Soul. That being said, Chance himself is definitely the star: his voice is a strange geographically-loose nasally thing that swings from bluesy crooning to automatic rifle assaults or yelped choruses, his on-record persona charming and a distinct world-view that’s open, empathic and distorted enough to be interesting without detracting from the simple ability to write songs that make you feel things.