Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Chance the Rapper and his puppet choir left a sold-out crowd uplifted

Chance The Rapper at Brooklyn Bowl

Erik Kabik Photography / MediaPunch

Chancelor Bennett, AKA Chance the Rapper, performs at Brooklyn Bowl in Las Vegas, Sept. 18, 2016.

Chance the Rapper took fans to church Sunday in a very unorthodox fashion during his Magnificent Coloring tour stop at Brooklyn Bowl.

The 23-year-old Chicagoan led a robed choir of 12 life-size, "Sesame Street"-looking puppets and one lion-suited character named Carlos through modern-gospel tunes off his latest project, “Coloring Book.” The backing Social Experiment band, which collaborated on Chance's mixtape “Surf” and most of his solo projects, included Donnie Trumpet's horn, Stix on the drums and keyboardist Peter Cottontale. Despite the band's prominent role in previous tours The Social Experiment and Acid Rap, it seemed to fade into the background to put the focus on the puppet choir and Carlos. The lion's hilarious vocals — recorded clips of Detroit-based viral comedian Haha Davis, who can be heard on the intros of Chance mixtapes “No Problem” and “All Night” — punctuated the theatrical show.

Chance The Rapper at Brooklyn Bowl

LAS VEGAS, NV - September 18, 2016: ***HOUSE COVERAGE*** Chancelor Bennett AKA Chance The Rapper performs at Brooklyn Bowl in Las vegas, NV on September 18, 2016. Credit: Erik Kabik Photography/ MediaPunch Launch slideshow »

Through the 90-minute set, Carlos encouraged Chance to dig deep to find his true purpose in music. At first, Chance fought it.

“I know you want me to take it back, but I’ve been on some new stuff,” the rapper snapped back, then performed his more “secular” songs surrounding topics of sex and drugs on “Juke Jam” (with Justin Bieber and Towkio on the studio track), “Smoke Break” (featuring Future) and “Mixtape” (with Young Thug and Lil Yachty). Each time, Carlos interrupted him saying, “Whoa, big fella! Slow down, big fella,” pushing Chance to get back on track.

Once Chance surrendered to his so-called musical and spiritual awakening, he was at his best.

That epiphany happened near the middle of the show when Chance performed “Sunday Candy,” about getting back to the grandmother who keeps him grounded in church and in life. On the uplifting song, he rhymed, “I ain’t seen you in a minute, let me take my butt to church.”

As the puppet choir sang beautiful hymns, Chance said with a big grin: “I knew I was supposed to be going one way … I’m figuring it out now.”

By that point the Holy Ghost was within him, and the worship session intensified as Chance got into “Coloring Book" tracks “All We Got” (featuring Kanye West on the album), “How Great” (with Jay Electronica) and “Finish Line” (featuring T-Pain, Kirk Franklin and more). The puppets skillfully harmonized, and the band matched his energy with thunderous instrumentation. The Las Vegas concert was suddenly a Chicago baptist church with a sold-out crowd of about 3,000 rowdy fans jumping with their hands high, just as Chance instructed.

“There’s a mathematical equation that if everyone in a sold-out show jumps, the ground will shake,” he said. “I literally want us to shake the building.”

A standout moment in the show occurred when Chance performed his verse featured on mentor Kanye West’s “Ultralight Beam” from "The Life of Pablo," rhyming about the journey from adolescence to awakening. “This is my part, nobody else speak/This little light of mine/Glory be to God.”

Francis and the Lights, the Oakland electro-pop artist who opened the show, embodied that journey in a single set. His quirky, Napoleon Dynamite dance moves added to the strange environment but couldn't save him from a rocky start, with anxious fans booing during the first song. When a unique beat dropped, he earned their respect, ending with the crowd cheering his name.

Chance had them from the start. Even the un-spiritual could find a place in his music, because his message seemed to be simply that people should leave feeling encouraged. As he performed “Blessings,” he said, “Your blessing isn’t on this CD. It’s not even at this concert. Are you ready for your blessing?”

Once Chance had fully submitted to his calling, Carlos said, “You’re on the right path, big fella. I’m proud of you.”

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