New sounds: Coloring Book by Chance The Rapper

From the moment the first trumpet slices though the silence and leads us into the soulful rhythmic chant…”And we back…”, Chicago MC Chance the Rapper has your ear. And he doesn’t give it back until nearly an hour (57 minutes) later.

Chancelor Bennet’s follow-up to 2013’s Acid Rap starts off like any other Kanye West produced CD opener – with a grandiose orchestra and the Chicago Children’s Choir. Chance’s Gospel influenced crooner-rap works well against the sound of horns. It’s a versatile style that allows him sing-rap on tracks on like “No Problems” with Lil Wayne and Two Chainz. The second track on Chance’s third mixtape. The single released a [month ago] and it definitely painted an appropriate preview of what to expect with this tape. This is feel good music.

“If one more label try to stop me, it’s gon be some dread head niggas in the lobby,” Chance screams into the mic.

This can be looked at as a reference some of the difficulties Chance faces as an independent artist. In a recent AMA on Reddit the hip hop artist acknowledged rumors that he record labels give him a hard time recording with their artists due to his independent status. The artist refuses to sell his music to a label, saying in the same AMA that “this is the future” and that one day “all artists will be free”.