Coloring Book (mixtape)

Coloring Book
Mixtape by Chance the Rapper
Released	May 13, 2016
Genre	Hip hop gospel rap
Length	57:14
Producer	Brasstracks Kanye West The Social Experiment Lido CBMIX Stix Rascal Kaytranada GARREN LoopedOutLoud Cam O'bi
Chance the Rapper chronology
Free (Based Freestyles Mixtape) (2015) Coloring Book (2016)
Singles from Coloring Book
"Angels" Released: October 27, 2015 "No Problem" Released: May 26, 2016 "Summer Friends" Released: August 17, 2016[1]

Coloring Book is the third mixtape by American hip hop recording artist Chance the Rapper. It was produced by his group The Social Experiment, Lido, and Kaytranada, among others. For the album, Chance also collaborated with musicians such as Kanye West, Young Thug, Francis and the Lights, Justin Bieber, Ty Dolla Sign, Kirk Franklin, and the Chicago Children's Choir.

Coloring Book was released on May 12, 2016, exclusively on Apple Music, before being made available to other streaming services on May 27. It was the first album to chart on the Billboard 200 solely on streams, peaking at number eight, while receiving widespread acclaim from critics who praised its fusion of hip hop and gospel sounds.

Background

Chance the Rapper told Complex that Coloring Book would be a superior record to Surf, the 2015 album that he had released with his group Donnie Trumpet & The Social Experiment.^[2] As with his other mixtapes, 10 Day and Acid Rap, the cover artwork was painted by Chicago-based artist Brandon Breaux, who depicted Chance holding his baby daughter (below the frame) in order to capture the expression on his face.^[3]

According to Financial Times music critic Ludovic Hunter-Tilney, Coloring Book is an upbeat gospel rap album whose themes of spiritual fulfillment and worldly accomplishment are explored in music "that places gospel choirs and jazzy horns in a modern setting of Auto-Tuned hooks and crisp beats".^[4] Rolling Stone's Christopher R. Weingarten wrote that the gospel choirs were the foundation of the mixtape's music, functioning in the same way disco interpolations had on the earliest rap records, James Brown rhythms had for Public Enemy, and soul samples had for Kanye West.^[5]

Chance discussed Coloring Book's theme of Christian faith in an interview with Zane Lowe. "I never really set out to make anything that could pretend to be new gospel or pretend to be the gospel", he said. "It's just music from me as a Christian man because I think before I was making music as a Christian child. And in both cases I have imperfections, but there was a declaration that can be made through going all the [stuff] I've been through the last few years." Lowe himself believed the mixtape showcased how "faith in music and faith in God go hand-in-hand a lot of times".^[6]

Release and reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
AnyDecentMusic?	8.2/10[7]
Metacritic	90/100[8]
Review scores
Source	Rating
The A.V. Club	A−[9]
Chicago Tribune	[10]
Entertainment Weekly	A−[11]
Financial Times	[4]
The Irish Times	[12]
NME	4/5[13]
Pitchfork	9.1/10[14]
Rolling Stone	[5]
Spin	9/10[15]
Vice	A[16]

Coloring Book's release date was revealed by Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon after Chance's May 6 performance of "Blessings" on the show.^[17] The mixtape was released exclusively to the Apple Music streaming service at 11 p.m. EST on May 12,^[18] the same day its second single "No Problem" was released;^[19] the lead single "Angels" had been released on October 27, 2015.^[20] Coloring Book was leaked to DatPiff, a mixtape distribution website, one hour after its release; it was removed from the site the following day.^[18] In its first week, the mixtape debuted at number eight on the Billboard 200 based on 57.3 million streams of its songs, which Billboard equated to 38,000 album units.^[21] It was the first release to chart on the Billboard 200 solely on streams.^[22] The mixtape was available only on Apple Music through May 27, when it was released to other streaming services.^[21]

Coloring Book received widespread acclaim from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the mixtape received an average score of 90, based on 20 reviews.^[8] In the Chicago Tribune, Greg Kot hailed it as "a celebration of singing, harmonizing, human voices making a joyous noise together",^[10] while Kris Ex from Pitchfork named it "one of the strongest rap albums released this year, an uplifting mix of spiritual and grounded that even an atheist can catch the Spirit to".^[14] Writing for Vice, Robert Christgau believed Chance's already irrepressibly cheerful voice sounded more attractive and substantial than before because of how the music's gospel elements had encouraged a stronger "vocal muscle" and controlled pitch.^[16] Jon Caramanica of The New York Times argued that Chance had drawn on the spirituality and consciousness present in West's music while "blossoming into a crusader and a pop savant, coming as close as anyone has to eradicating the walls between the sacred and the secular". He found his flow melodically and rhythmically dense yet deft and effortless, while deeming his narratives both intimate and universal, touching on familial duties, the violent crime in Chance's native Chicago, and being an independent artist in the modern music industry era.^[23] In the opinion of Slate journalist Jack Hamilton, Coloring Book was "the first true gospel-rap masterpiece".^[24]

Year-end rankings

Track listing

Track notes

• "All We Got" contains uncredited vocals from Francis and the Lights, Grace Weber, Isaiah Robinson, Jack Red, Sima Cunningham, Teddy Jackson, and Vasil Garnanliever.
• "No Problem" contains uncredited vocals from HaHa Davis, Jaime Woods, Jonathan Hoard, Lakeitsha Williams, Rachel Cato, and theMIND.^[30]
• "Summer Friends" contains a sample of "Friends" by Francis and the Lights featuring Bon Iver and "Something Came To Me" performed by Donnie Trumpet.^[31][32]
• "D.R.A.M. Sings Special" contains uncredited vocals from D.R.A.M. and Elle Varner.^[33]
• "Blessings" contains uncredited vocals from Jamila Woods and Byron Cage.^[30]
• "Same Drugs" contains uncredited vocals from the Chicago Children's Choir, Eryn Allen Kane, Francis and the Lights, Macie Stewart and Sima Cunningham.
• "Juke Jam" contains a sample of "Adriatic" performed by Mount Kimbie.^[30]
• "All Night" contains uncredited vocals from HaHa Davis.
• "How Great" credits Nicole Steen as "My cousin Nicole" and contains uncredited vocals from the Chicago Children's Choir, Isaiah Robinson, Sima Cunningham, and Vasil Garnanliever.
• "Finish Line / Drown" contains uncredited vocals from the Chicago Children's Choir, Grace Weber, Isaiah Robinson, Jack Red, Macie Stewart, Sima Cunningham, and theMIND.^[30]
• "Blessings (Reprise)" contains uncredited vocals from Raury, Anderson .Paak, BJ the Chicago Kid, Nico Segal, Lolah Brown, and HaHa Davis.^[34][35]

Charts

References

External links

• Chanceraps.com