[Kind of] New and Noteworthy: Chance the Rapper-Acid Rap

Chancellor Bennett is a rapper, just in case you didn't know. I envision the Chicago youth as something more, however. Chance the Rapper is one hip-hop's most congenial unorthodoxies.  I have to admit it took my ears a while to get accustomed to the 20-year old's flow. With a raspy whine that's a boyish cross between Childish Gambino and Lil' Wayne, I couldn't seem to take this ugly duckling seriously. But over time he grew on me, as his lyrical ability shone bright like a hip-hop Haley's comet; I knew he wasn't just another eccnetric. And as a fellow Chicagoan, I wasn't about to take him for granted just like that. Trading in gargantuan bass booms for wispy, piano laden beats and bars fixated on life's vices for candid self-commentary, Chance's latest mix tape Acid Rap has been turning the heads of indie blogs as well as major labels. It opens you up to the little things in life, which, on a mainstream scale in rap, can be quite difficult to achieve. Like any other aspiring rapper, Chance envisions himself in front of sprawling crowds at big-time venues, but all the subsequent fruits of such labor pale in comparison. Rather, the nostalgic south-sider takes time to reminisce on grilled cheese sandwiches and Rugrats cassette tapes, among other juvenile obscurities and experiences. Chance doesn't take to the mic to boast about his affiliations or what he has become, and his humility stands out with slapstick mirth. A free-spirtied adult living in the shadow of his childhood, Chance immerses himself in a colorful world of drug-induced creativity. Acid Rap is an irresistibly fun trip, radiating sing-along gleefulness through tracks like the soul-clapping "Good Ass Intro", and the sunlit "Favorite Song." For the most part it's a lighthearted stroll through a young man's blues, but Bennett is quick to address his city's plight, unlike many other  "Chiraqis" who have become engrossed in and inspired by it. "I think love is beautiful too/ Buildin' forts from broken dams, what a Hoover could do/ for future hoopers dead from Rugers shootin' through the empty alley/ Could of threw 'em an alley oop, helpin' 'em do good in school", he pleads in a single breath on "Acid Rain." And over an eerie surprise second half of "Pusha Man", he becomes strictly political, angrily revealing a violent urban underworld. It can be difficult to take the nasaly narrator too seriously, but on the flip side, the compelling nature of his words is too substantial to put aside. Acid Rap is a coming-of-age soundtrack that is as culturally relevant as it is delightfully relatable.