Chance The Rapper Coloring Book Album Download [PORTABLE]

I was first introduced to Chance the Rapper by a guy that I was dating who would listen to "Cocoa Butter Kisses" on repeat. The song was actually pretty dope with features from other Chicago-based artists Vic Mensa and Twista. As I listened to other songs from Chance's first album Acid Rap, which included a feature by alternative black boy rapper Childish Gambino, who I also was a fan of. I was just tuned into the creative lyricism and colorful storytelling. I could not really put my finger on what was so compelling about this weird twenty-one-year-old kid that sounded a little like a cartoon character who admitted to battling an acid addiction. But I liked it. I was feeling him. As I continued to follow Chance over the last year I have fallen in love with his story, his growth, but more importantly what he offers me as a student of religion who looks at the way black bodies navigate the world. Coloring Book offers a developed portrait of being black in the intersection and playing with Christian themes in a secular arena.

When I study religion, particular with respect to African Americans, my lens in focused on how individuals form themselves with respect to navigating the torrential waters of race (and gender) in America. I define religion as those things that continue shape and influence how we understand ourselves, the world we exist in, and make meaning of these things. With this being my foundation for religion, Chance's use of black Christian church rhetoric to tell his story with both a playfulness and intentioned difference makes a strong statement that black identities are formed many ways but also reminds us that the black Christian church still has long reach.

Black church culture is often debated for its relevance and eschewed for a narrow, often both misogynistic and homophobic, nature. As the world becomes more secularized, and the black community more radically individual, one often wonders whether the black church still holds a place in the lives of black folks. Especially for generations from the Millenials forward. While that is still a conversation worth exploring, I would argue that Chance the Rapper demonstrates that for many the black churches still holds relevance, but is interpreted differently. I know because as a born and raised Baptist, and clergy, I practice my spiritual and religious underpinnings much differently than my grandmother. My brand of Christianity includes tongue-in-cheek references to black Jesus, tattoos, hymns, and the gospel according to Lil Wayne. Similarly, Chance's colorful depiction of drug, mixtapes, and existential wrestling shows that religiosity is not limited to the pious.

The rapper's third mixtape, Coloring Book, proves that that's a damn good lane to be in. The long-awaited follow-up to 2013's Acid Rap is a double rainbow in the form of gospel rap, a jubilant and deeply spiritual thing that is already a top contender for the best rap album of 2016. It mixes elements of jazz, a little bit of reggae, and a lot of gospel, as well as names including Kanye, Justin Bieber, Young Thug, Future and the Chicago Children's Choir, yet never feels scattered. It references trials of Chance's upbringing on Chicago's south side, and Harry Potter, Peter Pan and Space Jam, too.