SOUNDTRACK: CHANCE THE RAPPER-Tiny Desk Concert #633 (July 5, 2017).
I first heard about Chance the Rapper from NPR–what Robin is talking about in the blurb below. I downloaded his free album and liked it enough. But I didn’t think much about him beyond that.
So I was really surprised a year or sop ago to see him in a Kit Kat commercial and then to discover that he was apparently huge. Like mega huge. I know many people who have gone to see him with their kids, he’s that big. I’m puzzled because his album Coloring Book is the one that came after the free one I downloaded. How did he become famous?
Well, good for him. He seems like a really nice guy. He’s wonderfully calf and understated as he comes out. He introduces everyone nicely, with special attention to the drummer, “my good friend, Stix.”
He says “I’m a big fan of the series.” Bu then admits “I didn’t know it was actually actually in an office.” How? But he later mentions some performances that he likes, so maybe he just never thought about it.
The night before arriving for his Tiny Desk set, Chance performed for more than 23,000 people at Jiffy Lube Live, an outdoor theater in Bristow, VA. The sold out arena and amphitheater shows of his current tour offer a stark contrast to the first time I saw Chance in concert back in 2013. Then, he was a 19-year old upstart rapping and singing for a handful of people at a tiny club in Austin, Texas. A lot has changed since then, and quickly. Chance’s most recent mix tape, Coloring Book, was widely ranked among the best albums of 2016 (some called it a masterpiece) and featured collaborations with a cast of hip-hop luminaries, from Kanye West to Lil Wayne and T-Pain.
Maybe that’s how he got so famous.
He plays two songs. The first is “Juke Jam.” It’s got a cool 70s sound on the keys and some popping drums–I’m really taken with the drummer. I didn’t notice until about half way through the song that the only instruments are the keys and a trumpet, which is pretty interesting. Chance has an infectious smile as he raps/sings.
I didn’t love the song on first listen–it’s a little too smooth/r&b for me. But on the second listen I rot to appreciate the words. and how it’s kind of a sweet (but dirty) tribute to roller rinks. I enjoyed this section:
All the kiddies stop skating
To see grown folks do, what grown folks do
When they grown and they dating
And the backing vocalists really bring it all home nicely.
Chance The Rapper knew he wanted to try a different approach for his Tiny Desk performance, so he decided to do something he said he hadn’t done in a long time. He wrote a poem. More specifically, he wrote a poem in the short time it took him to ride from his hotel in Washington, D.C. to the NPR Music offices. Calling it “The Other Side,” Chance debuted it in the middle of his remarkable set, reading from his notes written out in black marker on sheets of typing paper.
I really liked this poem. It was real and it was funny. He also didn’t read it in that awful coffee house style of reading that poets love these days. And before starting, he says, “Forgive me, I haven’t written a poem in a long time.”
“I still have all the keys that are of no use to me,” he began. “They used to, though. On the other side was a mansion on a hill, complete with L.A. pools and fireplaces and a rim made specifically for people that lie about being six feet to dunk on.”
Chance didn’t get much further before he was interrupted by one of the hazards of performing in an actual, working office: a building-wide page for someone to call the mailroom. But Chance rolled with it, cracking a quick joke before starting over again.
After the announcement, he paused and said, it’s all right, I’ll start again. Then he smiled and covered his mouth and said, “he’s like shut the fuck…no more poetry!” He also tells everyone, “There’s humor in this poem so you can laugh at it. Unless it truly offends you.”
Chance’s poem “The Other Side” was sandwiched between an opening version of “Juke Jam” from Coloring Book and another special gift just for his Tiny Desk appearance, a moving cover of Stevie Wonder’s 1974 song “They Won’t Go When I Go.”
“They Won’t Go When I Go” (written by Stevie Wonder) is gorgeous. He has Stevie’s vocal stylings down, but he makes them his own. The music is really lovely-minimal and spot on. And when the backing singers kick in, it elevates his own singing even more.
I kind of thought he’d do more, but he really did a lot of interesting things in those 12 minutes.
As the credits roll, he says, “Give it up for Third Story. Give it up for the Players of the Social Experiment and the beautiful Rach Jackson on vocals
Not sure which people are in which “group”. but here’s everyone: Chance The Rapper (vocals); Nico Segal (trumpet); Peter Wilkins (keys); Rachele Robinson (background vocals); Ben Lusher (background vocals); Elliot Skinner (background vocals); Richard Saunders (background vocals); Greg Landfair Jr., aka “Stix” (drums)
[READ: May 1, 2017] “My First Car”
I just don’t see the appeal of Joy Williams’ stories. This one absolutely feels like it is an excerpt and yet I am fairly certain it isn’t. It also feels like a couple of stories wedged together, and I’m pretty sure it isn’t that either.
In one part of the story, the narrator is asked by the caretaker of Mrs B’s Baby Village Day Care to look after the babies there. She has no experience (except that she was once a baby) but agrees anyway. Mrs B (Mr B is dead) needs to go pray for the world.
Mrs B had for some time wanted to go visit the great barrier reef. To see it in its full bloom. But then she found out that it was mostly dead. She was made about that of course, so she was going to pray for the world. (more…)
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SOUNDTRACK: see below.
I Just Read About That... 