I'm scrolling through Twitter mindlessly when the audience on the TODAY plaza for the Citi Concert Series suddenly bellows out cheers, waving their arms frantically and jumping up and down.
I raise my head up from my phone and scan the audience until my eyes focus in on a burnt orange hat with “3” embroidered on the front. Chance the Rapper has arrived.
I can only see his hat, but I can instantly feel the energy bubbling up in the plaza as he walks to the stage for his sound check — an energy that's palpable, even at 6:30 in the morning.
As the Chicago native and his team rehearse chunks of different songs, fans sing along to the lyrics and hike up their arms on beat.
I see one fan, Kayla Thomas, 27, going all out in her singalong, so I decide to ask her why she showed up to see the rapper, whose second mixtape, “Acid Rap,” turned 10 this year.
“I first discovered him on SoundCloud when he released ‘10 Day’ (in 2012),” she tells me. “Just seeing his career develop has been so exciting, and an opportunity to get to see him have a resurgence and celebrate his 10-year anniversary of ‘Acid Rap’ is really special. It came out when I was in college, and that was like the soundtrack to my freshman year of college.”
I was in high school when I first heard “Acid Rap.” I remember playing “Cocoa Butter Kisses” on repeat to carry me through as afternoons turned into evenings. A couple of years later, in 2017, I saw him in concert at the Essence Festival in New Orleans.
He wasn’t quite as mainstream then as he is now, so people began leaving the stadium as he took the stage and introduced his songs. I remember feeling shocked. Who skips a Chance the Rapper concert?
Since then, Chance has become a symbol for unsigned artists, evidence that you can still enter a competitive music industry known for artists signed to record deals that send them straight to stardom. He’s won Grammys, collaborated with DJ Khaled and other heavyweights in the industry and has served as a coach on NBC’s “The Voice.” He’s also married to Kirsten Corley and is a father to daughters Kensli, 7, and Marli, 3. His second album, “Star Line Gallery,” will be released next year.
Chance's penchant for incorporating these milestones into his music is one of fan Jaylen Stewart’s favorite parts, he tells me on the plaza.
“I like the fact that it’s evolving the type of person that he is,” the 22-year-old says, beaming. “Younger Chance was a little bit more immature but now he’s more of a family man, and it reflects in his music. I really love that about him. ... He’s being true to himself. Some other rappers might do just what’s popular, what’s trendy. But he just reflected what was going on in his life.”
Laura Roach and her daughter Heather Rudisell are as riled up as Thomas is during the TODAY concert. They tell me “The Voice” introduced them to the “No Problem” artist, who became a coach during Season 23.
“The TODAY show only has the best people here performing,” Rudisell, 46, says of why they're attending the concert. “And we wanted to come down and check it out. ... I like his personality. He’s just a nice, really nice guy. Seems like a cool guy.”
The rapper takes a selfie during the concert with Ariel Bennett, 23, which caps off a moment in which he dapped her up earlier during sound check because she was so lit.
“It was everything,” she tells me when I ask her about the moment. “I literally love him and I’m so happy we had that moment. We looked into each other’s eyes. We were vibing together. We were here with it.”
As Chance the Rapper performs “Cocoa Butter Kisses,” “Same Drugs,” “No Problem,” “That's Love” and “The Highs and the Lows,” it's as though he becomes one with the audience, captivating us with an electric performance that energizes each and every scream. Fans plead for selfies — and no one leaves early. As the concert comes to an end, my heart feels full to finally have gotten to experience being at a Chance the Rapper concert with people who appreciate him as much as I do.
