Chancelor Johnathan Bennett, more commonly known as Chance the Rapper, has seen the highest of highs and the lowest of lows over his 12-year career. The Chicago native has gone from releasing critically-acclaimed award winners “Acid Rap” and “Coloring Book” to dropping the at-best disappointing “The Big Day,” staying largely out of the zeitgeist since then.
Chance knows precisely how those peaks and valleys shape his public perception — that’s why he takes so many big swings on his new project, “STAR LINE,” and that’s why it’s so satisfying for the album to be a return to the Grammy-quality mountaintop. From putting together triumphant performances to exploring heavy topics, Chance’s new album is exactly what he needs to launch himself back to the forefront of the scene.
“STAR LINE” opens with “Star Side Intro.” From the opening bar, “Surprise, it’s the boy who lived,” the track establishes the record’s tone — bouncing back from “The Big Day,” a genre-confused trainwreck. Chance’s verses move frenetically, reminding listeners of just how much he’s overcome, like being stuck in classes for struggling students, mired in critical failure or divorced from his wife of six years. Once he lays it all on the track, though, he turns it over to a celebratory, triumphant chorus.
Throughout the album, Chance is joined by phenomenal features and balances heavier, powerful songs with lighter, groovier tracks that might get more radio play.
In “No More Old Men,” Chance laments the loss of father figures in his life and the hole they have left — “There’s a lot less love than there was before.” He’s joined by Jamila Woods, a singer-songwriter and poet, whose stellar voice adds emotional depth and grief to the deep subject matter.
Those complicated themes continue on “The Negro Problem,” where Chance and BJ the Chicago Kid touch on systemic and institutional racism with smooth vocals and lush production. The following weighty songs, “The Highs & The Lows,” “Space & Time” and “Link Me In The Future” return to the themes of overcoming adversity, taking care of family and remembering lost relatives, but do so without seeming repetitive or boring.
“Gun In Yo Purse” is repetitive, but the hook is so effective that the track seems more trancelike than uncreative. Young Thug and TiaCorine add spice, allowing Chance to hammer the message of protecting loved ones effectively. “Burn Ya Block” is probably the best-produced song on the album, with masterful sample-work evoking Spike Lee’s masterpiece, “Do the Right Thing,” balanced by a driving drumbeat and Chance’s energetic presence on the mic.
“Letters” is penned to different denominations and churches and how they use grandeur to empower themselves instead of to lead people to worship. “I’ve watched you worship idols / Brand the Bibles, sell it for double / Brandish rifles,” he raps. Chance touches on plenty of institutions on “Star Line,” from the government to age roles in society, but the album’s take on religion might be its most powerful.
The also-powerful “Speed of Light,” where BJ The Chicago Kid and LION BABE join Chance in finding the strength and potential in people, is tremendous and emotional. While its companion track and the record’s closer, “Speed of Love,” is slower, delicate and sees Chance reflect over his life while Jazmine Sullivan soulfully sings the hook.
The third-to-last song on “Star Line,” “Pretty,” is its weakest. The production isn’t fascinating, and the subject matter isn’t interesting until halfway through the song, when Chance deals with his divorce and the hole it’s left in his life. The next song, “Just A Drop,” is another deep track, seeing Chance flow about water inequality and what it means to grow up strangled by corporate greed.
But “Star Line” isn’t just message-centric songs — it has a serviceable amount of peppy, danceable tracks that should hopefully enter party playlists by the end of the year. “Ride” isn’t the album’s most daring track, but it’s so slick and Do or Die’s guest verse is so fantastic that it’s worthwhile. “Drapetomania” and “Tree” are solid as well, and their contrast with more serious surrounding songs isn’t too stark.
Chance is back — right when a more optimistic, energetic voice is needed in popular music. “Star Line” injects life back into mainstream hip-hop, which has cooled down a bit since last year’s summer of Kendrick. It’s still a big day when Chance drops, and if he keeps putting out records like this, he may be one of the biggest names in the game.
