It sometimes feels like just yesterday when hip-hop heads all over were blasting Chance the Rapper’s “Cocoa Butter Kisses” from car windows at top volume. The uber-catchy, Vic Mensa and Twista-assisted song appears on the 30-year-old’s Acid Rap mixtape, which arrived back in 2013. In fact, this past weekend, the 14-track project celebrated its 10-year anniversary, for which Complex spoke with Chance about his past work and its undeniable influence, among other things.
“In terms of rap, like, there was not another album that had a song like ‘Chain Smoker’ on it or another album that had a song like ‘Everybody’s Something’ on it,” he told the outlet during their chat. “It was its own thing,” CTR added, though he did compare it to other huge arrivals in the same genre also released that year. Among them were Mac Miller’s Watching Movies With The Sound Off, Kanye West’s Yeezus, and Drake’s Nothing Was The Same. Additionally, J. Cole’s Born Sinner album came up in the discussion as well.
Chance the Rapper Reflects on His Influence
According to Chance, the sound he crafted on Acid Rap still holds up to this day and even continues to influence emerging artists – particularly those coming up out of the Midwest. “I think you’d be hard-pressed to find somebody that’s a year or two younger than me that wasn’t influenced by Acid Rap, even if they weren’t from [that area],” the father of two speculated. “Jack Harlow, Uzi Vert. People that are from opposite coasts and from other places still tell me, like, what the album meant to them at that time.”
Besides the most popular song, “Cocoa Butter Kisses,” Chance the Rapper’s fans have also been running up streams on titles like “Favorite Song” with Childish Gambino as well as “Lost” featuring Noname. The Chicago native connected with no shortage of collaborators for the mixtape, including Ab-Soul, Action Bronson, Saba, BJ The Chicago Kid, Nate Fox, and Lili K. What’s your favourite song off of Acid Rap, ten years later? Let us know in the comments, and make sure to tap back in with HNHH later for more hip-hop news updates.
[Via]