Chance The Rapper

There’s no esoteric numerology to the title of Chance The Rapper’s new single, “3333.” In fact, he explains where the number comes from right in the second verse; it’s the number of tickets he sold to a recent gig at the Minnesota State Fair– which, as it turns out, is a massive undersell for a venue that houses 14,000. However, he didn’t let that deter him. Despite being asked if he wanted to cancel, he went ahead and rocked out anyway, playing songs from his hit albums and his upcoming album Star Line for an enthusiastic crowd that still sung along to just about every word.

According to The Minnesota Star Tribune, Chance made sure to inform the crowd, “I want you to know that whole ticketing thing. I’d perform for one of y’all.” He noted that while on the come-up, he’d performed at shows with 13 performers on the bill — and that they would constitute the entire audience, as well (been there, bro). Those sentiments also make their way into “3333,” a nonetheless joyful tune that finds Chance celebrating just the opportunity to perform for a crowd larger — and more energized for his performance — than those at his early showcases.

Chance’s fortunes have certainly taken a tumble from when he was at the height of his powers after the release of Coloring Book, but before his debut album The Big Day caused him to take a beating in some fans’ estimations. But he’s still here, still humble, still grateful for his successes, even if they might seem less impressive to some people. There’s something inspirational in that — which I suspect is the point. This is why Star Line might not end up grabbing headlines, but will almost certainly endear him to even the skeptics who wrote him off in addition to the fans who never lost faith.

You can watch Chance’s “3333” video above.

Chance The Rapper has been teasing his new project, Star Line, for quite a while, but during a recent livestream chat, he gave his fans a condition for its release: They must call it by its proper name instead of demanding he “drop the album.”

“Alright, so this was the main point I was trying to make,” he explained. “Stop calling it the album. And I don’t mean that in an ungrateful way. I’m grateful that people are putting in my comments, ‘Drop the album.’ I’m not going to drop the album until y’all start calling it Star Line.”

He elaborated, “That’s for all the other artists. That’s for all everybody else, whose work I also appreciate. But what I’m doing is something different. It’s something very specific. It’s called Star Line… I’ve been saying one specific phrase for coming up on two or three years now… If y’all say, ‘Drop Star Line enough, it’s going to make me drop Star Line… I don’t know what the album is. I know about a Star Line.”

As recently as June, Chance said that the album is either “83,” “83.5,” or “82.7” percent finished, while in late July, he hosted a listening event to give fans a preview of just what the project might consist of. He’s also released several songs already, including “Buried Alive,” “Together,” and “Stars Out,” in addition to the “Writing Exercise” freestyles that showed off his progress with his pen in response to fans’ lukewarm reception of his last album, The Big Day.