Stream Chance The Rapper’s highly-anticipated debut album, ‘The Big Day’

Known for being the SoundCloud champion of the independent artist generation, Chance the Rapper has risen to global fame as one of rap’s most decorated artists. All without ever releasing a full-length studio album. That all changes today as The Chicago-based Grammy winner adds to his three mixtape discography with the release his long-awaited debut LP, aptly-titled The Big Day.

The 22-track project is being heralded as Chance’s most ambitious and star-studded project to date. Originally teased through a series of viral tweets back in February, the album features collaborations from everyone from Timbaland and Gucci Mane to Megan Thee Stallion and Nicki Minaj. Chance is calling the project his “debut album,” which is really a matter of semantics considering how his third mixtape, 2016’s Coloring Book, is highly regarded as his debut force. After all, the project’s critical reception broke the Billboard Top 10, won him a Grammy, and earned Chance a guest spot as a Saturday Night Live host, a Lollapalooza headliner, and even a voice as a galago in the box-office-topping Lion King reboot.

On ode to martial bliss, The Big Day is less gospel-centric than Chance’s past mixtapes, and stylistically more in tune with the string of singles he’s released post-Coloring Book. “Photo Ops,” “4 Quarters in the Black,” and “Our House” are set skits to a star-studded California wedding between the rapper and his longtime girlfriend earlier this year. Two tracks on the album also make The Big Day a family affair, with “Roo” featuring Chance’s brother and “Ken,” which was written by his dad.

One standout track on the album, which seeks to break the conventions of musical genre, is the mellow electronic production with Deathcab For Cutie. “Do You Remember” reads more like a Postal Service b-side and features writing and production credits from Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon and Francis Starlite of Francis and the Lights. Another electronically inclined track on the album is the off-kilter bass arrangement, “Get A Bag.” With production credits from Lido, the track’s subtle sound design lays the groundwork for Chance’s lyrical genius to take front and center.

Taken as a whole, Chance The Rapper has put out yet another unstoppable force that feels remarkably contemporary and soulful. The Big Day stands as Chance’s most cohesive work yet, bound for chart-topping success.