By any measure, The Big Day is a watershed moment—not just because Chance has so adeptly turned an industry on its head, but because it’s the zenith of an entire career spent demonstrating that when Chance raps, he raps from the heart.
Unlike other lengthy recent rap albums (*cough* Scorpion), The Big Day has enough ideas, sounds and flows to justify its vast breath. What's more: it finally gives us a glimpse at Chance's multitudes, letting us accompany him to the altar and the confessional, instead of restricting him to the pulpit.
It’s an introspective body of work, delivered by an extrospective figure who always has something to say about the state of the world we live in.
Occasional nearsighted lyrical perspectives and three or four excellent but inessential tracks keep The Big Day from quite reaching masterpiece status, but it's still the most grown up (and the most polished) rendering of Chance's eternally bright spirit in his catalog.
There’ll be some who listen to this debut album (whatever that term means any more) and hope for more invention and variation in his next steps, when the star’s til-death-do-us-part commitment to cheery, church-rap cutesiness begins to tire. For fans though, The Big Day will endure well past any seven-year itches.
Not quite a classic, it’s nonetheless a welcome statement from one of the decade’s most important hip-hop artists.
It’s inconsistent and far from the perfection Chance probably has in him, and which the world somewhat unfairly expected from a first album.
Chance’s sprawling, 77-minute “debut” is an exuberant and often wonderful celebration of love and family that struggles to bring depth to his newlywed dad-raps.
Even with all its bright spots ... The Big Day still doesn’t do all that much, especially in the shadow of classics like Acid Rap and Coloring Book. The Big Day is one neverending dad joke.
While the album definitely has some real high points, the whole endeavour may come off like a mixed bag depending on how much of a Chance fan you are.
The Big Day contains about as much tonal variation as a leather-bound wedding photo album.
The Big Day is like a lot of weddings: too long and occasionally a little dull – with one or two unforgettable moments.
Stuffed with superfluous features, the Chicago rapper's 22-track debut studio album sags somewhat, but is almost saved by his infectiously optimistic outlook.
In addition to the album’s subjects being alienating, it also just ends up feeling resoundingly empty.
Even with its focus on beautiful life placeholders, musically it misses the mark to a great degree and fails to engage the listener across the whole of its offering.
If this is the big day Chance The Rapper has been waiting for, he's been saving up filler for years.
The Big Day will go down as one of the biggest disappointments in rap in recent memory, in no small part because Coloring Book was so great.
Some dude said this is the audio equivalent of walking thru a city and getting asked for a cig every 10 steps. That's really all that's needed to say.
UPDATE: Chance's singing and songwriting are actually album-ruining. This is terrible and gets even worse overtime.
The Big Day? More like the π ±οΈig Gay
Dude waited 5 full years since his XXL cover to release such a fucking garbage, uninteresting, boring to tears, patronising, cursed debut owbum.
Forget Baroness, this is THE disturbingly ... read more
Torture.
This is my introduction to Chance the Rapper. Now look, I will be honest, I was more interested in why this album is so hated rather than listening to his more well received projects. I'm sorry, I just really wanted to see if it's as bad as everyone says. And I will listen to his praised mixtapes as well. And oh, it's definitely as bad as everyone says it is.
This is Chance the Rapper's debut. Chance has released two highly acclaimed mixtapes prior to this debut, Acid Rap and ... read more
EDIT 2 (original score 48): Holy fucking shit dude. This gets worse with every listen. Literally the only thing keeping me from deleting the first review and just writing a new one is that it’s my most liked review to date by a baker’s mile. So I guess I’ll just write it here to block it out and give you the revised version.
At first, I thought this album had ups and downs. Then I thought it was flat out boring. Now I think it’s one of the biggest drops in quality from ... read more
+1 point for every song on this thing I liked
-0.5 for the fact that they make up LESS THAN A TENTH OF THE ALBUM
It's unbelieveable how shit this thing is. The lyrics are terrible all the way through, with instrumentals ranging from "actually kinda ok?" to "Hot Shower" (which is one of the worst tracks I've ever heard and makes Hoodrat sound like Mural). Thank god this shit is over. Chance, you have a LOT to prove, and you're basically finished if you can't. Good luck!
Best ... read more
1 | All Day Long 3:28 feat. John Legend | 51 |
2 | Do You Remember 3:56 feat. Death Cab for Cutie | 57 |
3 | Eternal 4:03 feat. Smino | 48 |
4 | Hot Shower 3:45 | 36 |
5 | We Go High 4:59 | 39 |
6 | I Got You (Always and Forever) 4:41 | 44 |
7 | Photo Ops (Skit) 1:15 | 20 |
8 | Roo 2:51 feat. Taylor Bennett, CocoRosie | 37 |
9 | The Big Day 4:02 feat. Francis and the Lights | 29 |
10 | Let's Go on the Run 3:41 feat. Knox Fortune | 27 |
11 | Handsome 2:53 feat. Megan Thee Stallion | 34 |
12 | Big Fish 3:06 feat. Gucci Mane | 32 |
13 | Ballin Flossin 2:49 feat. Shawn Mendes | 26 |
14 | 4 Quarters in the Black (Skit) 2:13 | 18 |
15 | 5 Year Plan 4:17 feat. Randy Newman | 35 |
16 | Get a Bag 3:21 feat. Calboy | 28 |
17 | Slide Around 4:30 feat. Lil Durk, Nicki Minaj | 35 |
18 | Sun Come Down 3:35 | 40 |
19 | Found a Good One (Single No More) 4:18 feat. SWV, Pretty Vee | 22 |
20 | Town on the Hill 2:59 | 32 |
21 | Our House (Skit) 1:05 | 18 |
22 | Zanies and Fools 5:23 feat. Darius Scott, Nicki Minaj | 40 |
#34 | / | Thrillist |
/ | Esquire (UK) |