Chancelor Bennett, aka Chance the Rapper, was born April 16, 1993. He was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. He and his brother, Taylor Bennett, both grew up in Chicago’s South Side neighborhood West Chatham. Chance went to Jones College Prep High School. During his senior year, Chance was suspended from school for 10 days for having marijuana on campus. While on this suspension, he recorded his first mixtape named “10 days.” In 2012, he uploaded this mixtape for the world to hear and it was well received locally. The mixtape helped open new doors for him and gave him connections to producers like Kenny Jame$, Chuck Inglish, and Blended Babies.

His mixtape also led to the opportunity to work with Childish Gambino, a very sucessful actor and rapper. Chance was asked by Gambino to join his 2012 concert of North America as his opening act and appeared on one of Gambino’s tracks “They Don’t Like Me.” He later released his second mixtape “Acid Rap” in 2013. This album included “Favorite Song,” a track that also featured Gambino. Chance the Rapper gained major recognition following the release of this mixtape. Many fans and music critics had nothing but positives things to say. This mixtape was nominated for Best Mixtape at the 2013 BET Hip Hop Awards, but sadly did not win.

In 2016, Chance got the amazing opportunity to work Kanye West and even co-write some of the songs on Kanye West’s album “The Life of Pablo.” After this collaboration, Chance released his third mixtape “Coloring Book” which was streamed exclusively on Apple Music. This mixtape like the one before it received many positive reviews from many music critics and fans. This mixtape also “debuted at number 8 on the Billboard 200 with 38,000 equivalent album units” and “generated 57.3 million streams in the first week, making it the first release to chart on the Billboard 200 solely from streaming.” The mixtape was very successful.

In recent news, Chance was able to take three Grammy Awards home from the 59th Annual Grammy Awards show. He received these awards because he won in the following categories: Best New Artist, Best Rap Album for “Coloring Book,” and Best Rap Performance for “ No Problem.” That night he became “the first black hip-hop artist to win in the Best New Artist category since Lauryn Hill in 1999” while his third mixtape “Coloring Book” is the first streamed-only album to receive a Grammy. From a 10 day suspension, to winning, not one, but three Grammys.