Chance the Rapper
The Big Day
Release Date: Jul 26, 2019
Genre(s): Rap, Alternative Rap, Midwest Rap, Contemporary Rap
Record label: N/A
Music Critic Score
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Album Review: The Big Day by Chance the Rapper
Very Good, Based on 10 Critics
Based on rating 9/10
Hip-hop's good guy has a confession to make. Yes, Chance the Rapper — the church-going, gospel-inclined, typically chipper MC — has learned the hard way about being a better husband. On "We Go High," a key track from the front end of his sprawling new LP The Big Day, Chance reveals fresh blemishes on his seemingly squeaky clean image. Over forlorn horn samples and high-pitched percussion that pops and clunks in grippingly distinctive fashion, Chicago's golden boy spits about transgressing and drifting far enough from his wife that she ….
Based on rating 8.5/10
It's an introspective body of work, delivered by an extrospective figure who always has something to say about the state of the world we live in. Elements of dance, gospel and soul are visible across the record, belying a lightness and effortlessness that compliment the rapper's delivery. Studies of relationships, as well as the politics of family, are themes that resonate across the album, manifesting in whole songs, as well as the fragments of a lyric, in ways that render the rapper as both a relatable and untouchable figure.
Based on rating 8/10
Despite rising to top-tier fame throughout the 2000s, Chance the Rapper didn't technically have a studio album until he was well established as one of the most recognizable and commercially successful talents of his time. His clever rhymes, joyous flows, and production tapestries that interlaced gospel, jazz, and modern rap tendencies were all showcased on adventurous, exciting mixtapes like 2013's Acid Rap and 2016's Coloring Book. The distinction between mixtape and album might seem like splitting hairs in the case of someone on Chance's level, but The Big Day attempts to set itself apart as something more considered and detailed than his already groundbreaking earlier work.
Based on rating 6.9/10
In the fall of 2015, about a year before Chance the Rapper became the biggest independent rapper on Earth, he released a song with his band, the Social Experiment, about transitioning into a family man. The song, a rendition of Kanye West's "Family Business" called "Family Matters," named after the sitcom about a black middle-class Chicago household, warned that things were changing. "In this part of my life, I'm growing up and I wanna do this the right way … grow out of it, in the best way possible," he said, as cautiously optimistic as ever.
Based on rating 3/5
Stuffed with superfluous features, the Chicago rapper's 22-track debut studio album sags somewhat, but is almost saved by his infectiously optimistic outlook 'The Big Day', Chance the Rapper's debut studio album (following three commercial mixtapes), is a buoyant, cheerful project that looks back on his young, successful career through rose-tinted lenses but, ultimately, doesn't possess enough depth amidst a mishmash of production and features that make it too long-winded. Over 22 tracks, 'The Big Day' flips through like a nostalgia-heavy scrapbook. As may be the case for most people looking back on their life, Chance focuses heavily on what he loves most.
Based on rating 2.4/5
"you can fall much faster than you think you can" Somewhere between Acid Rap and now, Chance lost his voice. I don't mean his raps or his flow - there's spitting on "All Day Long", at least, that's as good as anything he used to do, and his new religious/marriage bars are only as corny as his entire shtick always has been. No, it's far worse than that - Chance lost his voice.
Opinion: Average
The Lowdown: In the last seven years, Chance the Rapper has gone from handing out CDs outside of Chicago high schools to getting thousands of people to spend $30 on a hat with just the number three on it. In addition to occupying a firm place on thousands of people's foreheads, the hats signaled Chance's invasion into the mainstream. He acquired a devout following, all of whom were enamored with his mixtapes: Acid Rap, 10 Day, and the Kanye-congruent Coloring Book.
Opinion: Excellent
O n 9 March 2019, Chance the Rapper donned a white tux and married his long-term partner at a service in Newport Beach, California. The Chicago star's long-awaited debut album is a confetti shower of sweet-hearted hip-hop forged in the fulsome emotion of that day. A wedding ring gleams on its cover and comic skits threaded throughout the record pull you inside a riotous reception, as the rapper, real name Chancelor Bennett, reckons with his journey to marriage and the leap into adulthood it represents.
Opinion: Fairly Good
Chance the Rapper is evidently at a career peak at present. Following eight years of strong work ethic, the rapper has arguably solidified a presence as a renegade and vastly independent act. Beyond this, he's the first act to receive a Grammy award for a stream-only project -- with 'Coloring Book'. Now, Chance arrives with his debut album 'The Big Day' which marks a new chapter in the Chicago-raised talents life.
Opinion: Fairly Good
Rating: NNN The big day is here - Chance the Rapper's debut album has arrived. Of course, The Big Day is really a "debut" album in name only. There's not much to distinguish the Chicago rapper's three previously released mixtapes from albums other than the fact they were never for sale - a distinction that means less and less in the Spotify age. Chance himself has played a big part in blurring the lines.