Chance The Rapper: NPR Front Row

It's hard to kill it when your show is at 3:30 on a Thursday afternoon, especially in a small club with a stage the size of a college dorm room. But when Chance the Rapper's turn came in a swiftly moving showcase of hip-hop artists at Austin's Karma Lounge, he climbed a stack of gear cases and leapt on stage with enough energy and swagger to command a major arena. From the moment he kicked off his 20-minute set with the song "Brain Cells" he owned the crowd, prowling the stage with his fists in the air and inciting fans to shake off their hangovers. His flow is kinetic and the deep-cut soul samples of his newer songs are soothing and hype at the same time.
Chance The Rapper (Chance Bennett) is just 19 years-old and a native of Chicago, where he got his start in early 2011 when the video for his song "Nostalgia" was featured on the Chicago hip-hop blog Fake Shore Drive. He dropped his first mixtape, 10 Day, in April 2012. He's expected to release his second mixtape, Acid Rap, this spring and has already released three singles, "Acid Rain," "Good As Intro," and the cut featured on this Front Row video, "Juice."

Credits

Producers: Saidah Blount, Mito Habe-Evans, Robin Hilton, Frannie Kelley; Assistant Producer/Editor: Denise DeBelius; Audio Engineer: Kevin Wait; Videographers: Denise DeBelius, Katie Hayes Luke; Special Thanks to: CrowdNoize, Hydrive; Executive Producers: Anya Grundmann, Keith Jenkins