Coloring Book was released on May 13, 2016, exclusively onApple Music, before being made available to otherstreaming services on May 27. It was the first mixtape to chart on the USBillboard 200 solely on streams, peaking at number eight, while receiving widespread acclaim from critics who praised its fusion of hip hop and gospel sounds. The mixtape wonBest Rap Album at the2017 Grammy Awards. It was also the first streaming-only album ever to win aGrammy.
After releasing the well-received mixtapeAcid Rap in 2013, Chance the Rapper went on tour withMacklemore & Ryan Lewis. He subsequently relocated to Los Angeles from his hometown of Chicago that December. He rented aNorth Hollywood mansion, which he dubbed the Koi Kastle. While he worked on music in fits and starts, he mainly spent time socializing with friends he made—among themFrank Ocean andJ. Cole. He also abused drugs, mainlyXanax: "I was Xanned out every fucking day," he toldGQ in 2016. He also went through numerous relationships, and he began to feel unproductive and empty.[1]
He returned to Chicago and got back together with an old girlfriend. He grew more religious upon learning she was pregnant, and especially so after learning his daughter had anatrial flutter. "I think it was the baby that, you know, brought my faith back," he remarked later. On the subject of her heart condition, he said, "[It] made me pray a whole lot, you know, and need a lot of angels and just see shit in a very, like, direct way." His daughter was born in September 2015. During this time, he began to mull over themes he wished to include in his next mixtape, including "God, love, Chicago, [and] dance." Before working on that, he contributed heavily toKanye West's albumThe Life of Pablo.Coloring Book was mainly recorded between March and April 2016. He rented out a room at a Chicago studio, and then another as he needed more space. He gradually came to more or less live at the studio during recording: "Eventually we decided to rent out the whole studio, and we just put mattresses in all the rooms and it became a camp."[1] His method of making the mixtape was inspired by West taking over an entire studio to makePablo.[2]
Chance the Rapper toldComplex thatColoring Book would be a superior record toSurf, the 2015 album that he had released with his group Donnie Trumpet & The Social Experiment.[3] As with his other mixtapes,10 Day andAcid Rap, the cover artwork was painted by Chicago-based artistBrandon Breaux, who depicted Chance holding his baby daughter (below the frame) in order to capture the expression on his face.[4]
According toFinancial Times music critic Ludovic Hunter-Tilney,Coloring Book is an upbeatgospel rap album whose themes of spiritual fulfillment and worldly accomplishment are explored in music "that places gospel choirs and jazzy horns in a modern setting ofAuto-Tuned hooks and crisp beats".[5]Rolling Stone's Christopher R. Weingarten wrote that thegospel choirs were the foundation of the mixtape's music, functioning in the same waydisco interpolations had on the earliest rap records,James Brown rhythms had forPublic Enemy, andsoul samples had forKanye West.[6]
Chance discussedColoring Book's theme ofChristian faith in an interview withZane Lowe. "I never really set out to make anything that could pretend to be new gospel or pretend to be the gospel", he said. "It's just music from me as a Christian man because I think before I was making music as a Christian child. And in both cases I have imperfections, but there was a declaration that can be made through going all the [stuff] I've been through the last few years." Lowe himself believed the mixtape showcased how "faith in music and faith in God go hand-in-hand a lot of times".[7]
Coloring Book's release date was revealed byTonight Show hostJimmy Fallon after Chance's May 6 performance of "Blessings" on the show.[8] The mixtape was released exclusively to theApple Music streaming service at 11 p.m.EST on May 12,[9] the same day its second single "No Problem" was released;[10] the lead single "Angels" had been released on October 27, 2015,[11] while its finale single "Summer Friends" was released on August 17, 2016.[12]Coloring Book wasleaked toDatPiff, a mixtape distribution website, one hour after its release; it was removed from the site the following day.[9]
In the first week of release,Coloring Book debuted at number eight on the USBillboard 200 based on 57.3 million streams of its songs, whichBillboard equated to 38,000album units.[13] It was the first release to chart on theBillboard 200 solely on streams.[14] The mixtape was available only on Apple Music through May 27, when it was released to other streaming services.[13]Coloring Book became the first to surpass 500,000 with only streaming album equivalents. Since its debut in May, the album has stayed on theBillboard 200 chart for 33 consecutive weeks, peaking at number eight.[15]
Coloring Book was met with widespread critical acclaim. AtMetacritic, which assigns anormalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the mixtape received anaverage score of 89, based on 21 reviews.[17] Aggregator AnyDecentMusic? gave it 8.2 out of 10, based on their assessment of the critical consensus.[16]
Reviewing for theChicago Tribune in May 2016,Greg Kot hailed the album as "a celebration of singing, harmonizing, human voices making a joyous noise together",[20] while Kris Ex fromPitchfork named it "one of the strongest rap albums released this year, an uplifting mix of spiritual and grounded that even an atheist can catch the Spirit to".[24] Writing forVice,Robert Christgau believed Chance's already irrepressibly cheerful voice sounded more attractive and substantial than before because of how the music'sgospel elements had encouraged a stronger "vocal muscle" and controlledpitch.[26] Jon Caramanica ofThe New York Times argued that Chance had drawn on the spirituality and consciousness present in West's music while "blossoming into a crusader and a pop savant, coming as close as anyone has to eradicating the walls between the sacred and the secular". He found hisflow melodically and rhythmically dense yet deft and effortless, while deeming his narratives both intimate and universal, touching on familial duties,the violent crime in Chance's native Chicago, and being anindependent artist in the modernmusic industry era.[27] In the opinion ofSlate journalist Jack Hamilton,Coloring Book was "the first true gospel-rap masterpiece".[28]
At the end of 2016,Coloring Book appeared on a number of critics' lists ranking the year's top albums. According to Metacritic, it was the seventh most prominently ranked record of 2016.[29] Christgau ranked it as the ninth best album of the year in his ballot forThe Village Voice's annualPazz & Jop critics poll.[30] The album wonBest Rap Album at the2017 Grammy Awards. It was the first streaming-only album to win aGrammy.[31]Rolling Stone ranked the album 105th out of the 200 greatest hip-hop albums of all time in 2022.[32]
^Except Kanye West's vocals on "All We Got", recorded atConway (Los Angeles, California); and "D.R.A.M. Sings Special", recorded atShangri-La (Malibu, California) and The Himalayas (Los Angeles, California)
[20]
[22]