Chance the Rapper takes Miami

By Trevor Durham on October 16, 2016

“Oh shit, I’m sorry guys. I just realized I did it again. I always get too excited in Miami. Gotta catch my breath.” He paused. “Hi. I’m Chance the Rapper.”

Chance the Rapper took to the Fillmore Theatre stage, a year after his touring visit with the Social Experiment, to showcase his Magnificent Coloring World Tour. It was a hesitant night, coming right on the heels of a fan tackling him on the very same stage. Ryan Pfeffer put it best, saying that Chance “performs like he’s just been freed from a cage.” Lil Chano from 79th is a burst of lightning as the curtains open to ‘Angels’, an explosion of ferocity in ‘No Problem’, and a wave of action in ‘Pusha Man’. To see Chance now is to see Kanye perform Graduation- you’re seeing an artist reach the end of juvenilia, the seeds of genius ready to burst.

Mr. Chance Bennett, hailing from Chicago, is freshly off his third mixtape Coloring Book. His first two projects, 10 Day and Acid Rap, garnered him a huge fan base. Chance is known for, most of all, his desire to give music back to the people. His music has always been free, and he refuses to sign to a major record label.

The Magnificent Coloring World Tour is as childishly happy as it sounds, selling posters and coloring books (yes, for crayons) at the door. Fans wearing the iconic 3 cap shuffled into the venue, cramming against the stage. But instead of a typical hip-hop set, Chance presents a narrative journey. The Magnificent Coloring World Tour tells us Chance’s life journey, full of animal puppetry, flashing lights, and innocent philosophies.

“Don’t forget your message, big fella,” a primary-colored lion named Carlos drones on. Chance’s subconscious drills time and time again for Mr. Bennett to ‘take it back’, remember himself. Chance performs ‘Brain Cells’, the only song of the night from his first 10 Day. He rages against himself, deciding to abandon all friends. He looks to old hook-ups in ‘Same Drugs’. But then he finds Christ, and in himself, truth.

Everybody knows Chance is religious. Whether a Kanye fan in ‘Ultralight Beam’, featuring references all the way to Lot’s wife, or somebody who has heard his wonderful choir in ‘How Great’, Chance is religious.

It seems, more than anything, that we’re seeing the fledgling Chance stuck in a mid-life crisis. His largest success, Coloring Book, has thrown him to the clouds. Now, he’s on a tour with puppets trying to find himself in front of audiences. What he’s doing is great, if not slightly forced. ‘When the praises go up, the blessings come down’ was repeated dozens upon dozens of times. He knew it was a little tiring in his encore.

“I may regret doing this. You know the phrase, beating a dead horse?”

Chance played a majority of Coloring Book, and all the hits from Acid Rap. For a rapper hunting for that nostalgia, the truth, he sure isn’t willing to go back to his youth.

Make no mistake, Chance is a breath of fresh air, a warmth in a cold industry. The biggest concern now is to hope this peak isn’t met with J. Cole’s most successes-  Lil Chano needs to stay as far from retirement as possible.

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