Chance the Rapper probably had one of the most promising careers going for himself thanks to his popular mixtapes, including his third project, Coloring Book, which was released back in May 2016. Despite being an independent artist, hip-hop fans were impressed not just by Chance’s lyricism but also his business-savvy skills.
Coloring Book included a star-studded line-up of features including Kanye West, Lil Wayne, 2 Chains, Justin Bieber, and Future, to name a few, which was relatively unheard of by an artist with no backing from a major record label.
So, understandably, when Chance, who is best friends with Justin Bieber, finally announced he was dropping his debut album over the summer of 2019, fans were beyond excited — but that was before the rapper would get sucked into a string of controversies, which made people’s perception of his character change rapidly.
The Big Day, Chance’s debut album, was confirmed for a release in June of that year, but it charted poorly on the Billboard Hot 200 and, on top of that, didn’t produce any notable hits like the songs from his mixtapes. So what exactly went wrong and why did people stop supporting the Chicago native? Here’s the lowdown…
Chance The Rapper’s Controversial Remarks
In January 2019, the “No Problem” hitmaker rubbed a lot of people the wrong way after daringly saying in an interview that he questioned Black women who had come forward amid the #MeToo movement to accuse disgraced R&B singer R. Kelly of sexual assault.
Chance appeared in the documentary, Surviving R. Kelly, where he said he didn’t believe some of the stories he had heard from the women who came forward because they were of African-American descent.
“Maybe I didn’t care because I didn’t value the accusers’ stories because they were Black women,” he shared.
A full quote given by Rolling Stone gave more context to what Chance said in full, which included the words, “We’re programmed to really be hypersensitive to Black male oppression, but Black women are exponentially [a] higher oppressed and violated group of people just in comparison to the whole world.
“Maybe I didn’t care because I didn’t value the accusers’ stories because they were Black women.”
People were utterly appalled, nonetheless, saying that to make such a statement in a documentary about R. Kelly seemed very insensitive and made many people question Chance’s stance towards his own community.
The 28-year-old later took to his Twitter account, saying, “The quote was taken out of context, but the truth is any of us who ever ignored the R Kelly stories, or ever believed he was being setup/attacked by the system (as black men often are) were doing so at the detriment of black women and girls.
“I apologize to all of his survivors for working with him and for taking this long to speak out.”
He appeared to have changed his tune a little with the tweet because, regardless of how he put it, Chance still said that he didn’t believe some of the women who accused R. Kelly of abuse and sexual assault simply based on the color of their skin.
Well, it looked like the anticipation for Chance’s debut album had faded by the time it was served for release in July 2019, selling 108,000 copies — only 27,000 units of the total amount were from pure album sales.
The record spawned two singles: “Do You Remember” and “Hot Shower,” but neither song made any major impact on Billboard’s Hot 100.
Again, the album was self-released without a label pushing it with a huge marketing campaign — nor was the project supported by a tour, which seemed worrying, to say the least.
After seeing his fans’ reactions to the album — with many calling it a complete letdown of what they had expected — Chance went on Twitter in August 2019, saying he felt as if people wanted the lyricist to kill himself for releasing a not-so-well-received body of work.
“I’m getting this crazy feeling that people want me to kill myself,” he tweeted. “That’s not my vibe at all, but i feel the push. And I feel like even more than that, some people want me to feel ashamed. Shame is heavy yo. And feeling shame for something that you were once prideful about is super heavy.
“What’s really weird is that music is the number one thing that influences how I feel on the daily. Like can really push me to one side or the other. And thats super raw to me. Cause I’m sure there’s other people that get their fuel from music.”
He concluded, “So for anybody out there thats texted me the past few days, I appreciate you. And I’m happy being able to spend time with my family and do alot of the things I used to do before I got so wrapped up in making this project.”
He hasn’t released any new music since then.
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