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Before Chance the Rapper won a Grammy for Best Rap Album for his third mixtape
Coloring Book, he released what some consider his greatest work to date. In 2012, Chance (born Chancelor Johnathan Bennett) released his debut mixtape
10 Day. He didn’t begin to receive mainstream recognition though until the next year when he released his legendary second mixtape
Acid Rap.
On April 30, 2013 Chance released
Acid Rap after making a fairly decent amount of noise with
10 Day. He admitted that a lot of LSD was used during the production of the mixtape although it was just a small factor in the making of it. Chance described the mixtape as an allegory to acid instead of just a tape about acid. When comparing
10 Day and
Acid Rap, Chance has noted that his first mixtape was more of a story-based album. With
Acid Rap, he wanted to focus more on the music itself. The acid jazz sound that’s heard on the tape can be accredited to the collaboration of artists and producers from multiple genres. Chance tapped artists and producers from Chicago who he had also worked with before including Kanye West, Vic Mensa, BJ the Chicago Kid and Donald Glover amongst many more.
Acid Rap was released as a mixtape and not an album. Chance chose to go this route because he wanted to release free music for the people. As an unsigned artist, he was able to sell merchandise and perform live to make money. Another thing that went into him remaining unsigned was the fact that he could collaborate with whoever he wanted to. That freedom was one of the biggest aspects of the creation of
Acid Rap.
Despite only debuting at number 63 on the
Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums,
Acid Rap was met with widespread acclaim upon its release. The mixtape’s “low” numbers came due to bootleg downloads on iTunes and Amazon not affiliated with the artist. Fortunately, it performed extremely well on all online audio distribution platforms especially Datpiff, where it got downloaded over a million times.
Acid Rap invites elements of classic soul, juke, gospel, blues-rock, drill, acid jazz, house and ragtime scat. On top of that, there are songs for any and every mood you could possibly be in. Over the years,
Acid Rap has stood the test of time. On June 21, 2019 it was rereleased on streaming services along with
10 Day. A 10th anniversary Complete Edition was also later released. To celebrate the mixtape turning ten years old, Chance the Rapper spoke to
Complex and gave them a list of his top five most important songs on
Acid Rap. Check it out and listen to the classic tracks below!
