Chance the Rapper - Coloring Book
Critic Score
Based on 27 reviews
2016 Ratings: #10 / 1004
Year End Rank: #7
User Score
2016 Rank: #279
Liked by 284 people
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CRITIC REVIEWS

100
AllMusic
It's a joy to hear all this zeal from a rapper operating at the top of his game.
100
The Young Folks
In a way it’s the perfect gospel hip-hop album that is also a perfect blend of everything.
100
Consequence of Sound
Serving as a stark antithesis to the drill movement, Chance’s gospel worship doesn’t seek to hold a mirror to the daily horrors of Chicago, but instead to uplift, empower, and heal its people.
92
HipHopDX
Rather than cheap ploys to cross over, the questionable collaborations are more likely calculated concessions with the intent of sneaking his evangelical message to a greater audience. After the communion cup runs empty, Chance proves himself worthy of hero worship by subtly and subversively overthrowing the commercialized horrors of his town’s violent drill movement.
91
Pitchfork

Chance the Rapper's Coloring Book is 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.

91
Entertainment Weekly

Though it doesn’t eclipse the LSD-inspired brilliance of Acid Rap, Coloring Book affirms Chance’s place as one of hip-hop’s most promising — and most uplifting — young stars.

91
A.V. Club

Coloring Book delivers one celebratory hymnal after another, emphasizing the natural high that comes with feeling loved and watched over.

90
FLOOD Magazine

It’s both a high-profile showcase for Chance’s talents and a platform he cedes to a dozen or so guests. It’s a set of block-party-ready summer jams and a sepia-tinged acknowledgment of the inaccessibility of the past.

90
Exclaim!

Coloring Book is a spirited musical sermon, and Chance's fellow MCs will covet its perfect union of gospel and rap. Those other rappers had better speak now, or forever hold their peace.

90
Spectrum Culture
Once an indie-rap darling with obvious talents and interesting quirks, Chance has grown into something new and mighty. Now he’s on a mission from God.
90
SPIN

On Coloring Book, he displays the most joyful part of his universe, and invites listeners across the globe to share in the festivities.

90
Albumism
Chance the Rapper is Back and Better Than Ever on New ‘Coloring Book’ Mixtape.
86
Paste
This varied soundscape keeps Chance on his toes, giving him infinite ways to twist his thoughts and his voice into the reverent praises he’s so devoted to.
83
Pretty Much Amazing

This is a vibrant, uneven, irresistibly likable, and occasionally transcendent release from an artist who shows no signs of falling off anytime soon.

80
The Line of Best Fit

Coloring Book is a staggeringly mature record, and while it isn’t on par with Acid Rap in terms of unforgettable lyricism, it also has a different mission.

80
Crack Magazine

Coloring Book is an inspiration for younger generations, one that tells them to create from the heart, and to not allow rejection to become a permanent maker of where you are headed.

80
NOW Magazine

Past Chance the Rapper releases seemed inspired by Kanye West's The College Dropout, whereas Coloring Book has the celebratory and playful feel of Lil Wayne's Tha Carter III - densely packed with metaphors, flow and tempo change-ups, and summer-jam-worthy songs.

80
The Irish Times
Ambitious, compelling, joyful and audacious, it’s an album by a rapper laying down his bona-fides, digging into the roots and coming up with many reasons to be cheerful.
80
Rolling Stone

Reaching back to the very beginning of black music in America, Chance recontextualizes one of the most enduring African-American art forms for 2016's most urgent one.

80
XXL

Coloring Book, replete with a spiritual aura and talk with the man above, is a heavy contender for the best project released this year because it goes against the grain while still building upon hip-hop’s foundation. Speaking to God in public never sounded so good.

80
DIY

‘Coloring Book’ intertwines gospel, jazz, hip hop, R&B and touches of Chicago house alongside some of the biggest names in the game - including Yeezy himself. Each style is perfected and full of purpose.

80
The 405

His generously free spiritual-based tutorial - brimming with critical goodwill, religious undertones and conscious-minded hope - is a cohesive sonic statement directed at a generation struggling to find peace and purpose among conflicted priority, along with redemption for the windy city he hails from.

80
NME
Fizzingly fun, this third mixtape sees Chance finessing but certainly not hampering, his freewheeling nature.
80
PopMatters

Coloring Book is another exceptional release from a vital artist only now coming into his own. In that, the future for Chance the Rapper is wide open to seemingly unlimited potential.

70
FasterLouder

Although Coloring Book isn’t a disappointment necessarily, but there are no giant leaps forward here, nothing to fully justify the wait. Chance has crystallised his aesthetic, but one hopes that on his next release he adds another chapter to the volume, rather than revising the text again.

70
The Needle Drop

Chance The Rapper returns with a new mixtape fusing the sounds of jazz, hip hop, and gospel.

70
Tiny Mix Tapes

Chance is no longer quite coming from that place of adolescence that was essential to 10 Day and Acid Rap, but on Coloring Book, he doesn’t yet sound comfortably settled into whatever it is that’s supposed to come next.

KIDWITHGUNs
75

If you don't have a massive, hideous smile on your face when you're listening to cuts like "Angels" or "No Problem", you most likely hate fun and/or dogs.

exception
39

obviously, after hearing this album, either kanye was heavily influenced by chance's gospel style (chance worked a ton on tlop) or chance was inspired by kanye. regardless of which is true, this tape sounds like a much cheesier version of the life of pablo. much of this just doesnt work with what chance showed to be his style on previous projects. i really, really wanted to like this, but i really cant bring myself to find any super-great moments here. chance's singing and rapping are ... read more

AZIZ
49

This dude is so goddamn overrated. Chance's personality is so annoying.

80

album que realmente ame tanto por el hype que le dan los gringos y tambien por el pedazo de mielda que habia lanzado antes de el libro coloreado es un sonido muy divertido y te hace tener buenas vibras al escuchar esta obra de arte tengo muy poco para decir algo de este album 8/10 conclusion: nose nariz gracias Chance El Rapper :]

Pogodemon
78

I was not expecting to like this anywhere near as much as i did as i wasn't a big fan of acid rap. but my god i was smiling the whole time this was playing

95

I'm not religious, but this album makes me feel God.

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Added on: May 6, 2016