ACL Weekend Two – Day Three: Who is Chance the Rapper?

The final day of the Austin City Limits Festival brought out the soulful side in us all. When you have Hozier, Vance Joy, Florence and the Machine, and The Weeknd on the bill, you’re going to be moving in ways you never thought you could.

The same can be said about Chicago rap artist Chance the Rapper.

In 2013, Chance’s fan base grew after the release of his critically acclaimed album Acid Rap. After the release of his album, people started to take notice. Chance the Rapper, also known as Chancelor Bennett, began to gain several accolades including being one of XXL Magazine’s Top Freshman in 2014 and being presented “Outstanding Youth of the Year Award” by the mayor of Chicago.

The hype built even more after Bennett, and members of his co – founded group The Social Experiment dropped their album Surf. Surf was released for free on ITunes and reached 618,000 downloads in its first week.

The table was set for Chance to let loose in Austin, TX and it was the best set of Weekend Two. The Chicago rapper proved the hype and the Miller Lite stage was packed 20 minutes before he came up on stage.  Fans overflowed the Honda stage, which was located right across and was the biggest crowd I’ve seen all weekend. Songs like “Juice”and “Favorite Song” brought the energy out of everyone in the crowd. While songs like “Brain Cells” and “Smoke Again” had people grooving like a Lionel Richie concert . The true bright spot of the set had to be when Chance and his band mates, The Social Experiment performed a variation of the theme song from the PBS show Arthur. “Every day it could be wonderful” said the future rap star and it rang true to the several thousand fans who waited and crowed together to watch his performance.

Overall the Austin City Limits Music Festival is something to behold every year.  When you can discover someone like Chance the Rapper, Twenty One Pilots, or Halsey its a true gift to music fans. C3 Presents has always found a way to give the best experience to festival goers. In doing so, they’ve made ACL a Texas music staple. While other cities in the state try to stand toe to toe, it cant compare to the experience.

Till next year ACL!