Chance The Rapper recently announced special Acid Rap shows in his hometown of Chicago, New York City and Los Angeles to commemorate the project’s 10-year anniversary.
Apple Music 1’s Ebro Darden recently spoke to Chance about his groundbreaking mixtape. The Voice coach revealed the most difficult issue he had to deal with during that time period around 2013.
“The toughest challenge I ever experienced was [when] I went on tour with Macklemore,” Chance said. “Macklemore is an amazing, amazing person and helped me out tremendously as well. But his shows, it was in Europe and it was, I think 38 dates, all 20,000 capacity rooms, all like off markets too, like Poland and Dusseldorf.”
Chance continued, “These people didn’t speak English at all. And not only did they not speak English, he sold out all these shows before I was announced on the ticket. So it’s really bad when you go to a show and there’s an opener that you don’t want to see. It’s way worse when it’s a surprise opener that you don’t want to see. That’s speaking a different language and Black, a lot of negatives on top of each other for the Swedish crowds.”
Macklemore became an international star in the early 2010s. His musical output with producer Ryan Lewis included “Can’t Hold Us” featuring Ray Dalton and “Thrift Shop” featuring Wanz. Both records peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and earned diamond certification from the RIAA.
Many Hip-Hop fans view Chance The Rapper’s Acid Rap as the midwesterner’s breakout mixtape. That 2013 effort features appearances by BJ the Chicago Kid, Vic Mensa, Twista, Noname, Saba, Childish Gambino, Action Bronson, Ab-Soul and more.
Following Acid Rap, Chance dropped Coloring Book in 2016. The 57-minute mixtape was the first streaming-only project to win a Grammy Award when it took home the Best Rap Album trophy at the 2017 ceremony.
The Big Day album arrived in July 2019 to lukewarm reviews. Chance The Rapper has been working on his upcoming Star Line Gallery studio album. He previously referred to Star Line Gallery as one of his “proudest projects in terms of writing and artistic vision.”