BTS Photos of Chance The Rapper's Social Experiment Tour
If you haven't heard by now, Chance The Rapper had a pretty good year last year. The Chicago kid dropped Acid Rap in May and went on to essentially take the music scene by storm. After getting practice opening for Childish Gambino and Mac Miller on their tours, Chance decided to end 2013 right, by piling as many fellow artists and friends as he could fit into a pair of buses and traveling the country for two and a half months, selling out nearly every show along the way. One of those on the bus was talented photographer Allen Daniels whose Polaroid shots were used as a background for Chance's Riviera shows. He was a fly on the wall for the extent of the Social Experiment Tour and yesterday the tour documented through his lens hit the Internet on Chanceraps.com. Check out the shots of Pat The Manager, Peter CottonTale, Donnie Trumpet, Greg Landfair, Nate Fox and the gang in the gallery below.
[Photos via Allen Daniels]
[Video] Chance The Rapper Performs on Arsenio Hall
Chance The Rapper and co. wrapped up their "Social Experiment Tour" yesterday in Los Angeles with a performance at the Nokia Theater. Before heading there, though, they made a stop at the Arsenio Hall Show where Chance, backed by his band of Peter CottonTale, Nico Segal, Nate Fox and Greg Landfair, and looking fresh to death in custom "Social Experiment" letterman jackets, played their re-arranged live version of "Chain Smoker" off of Acid Rap, which has steadily been making the rounds at the top of nearly everyone's top albums of the year list.
Throughout the performance Chano seemed to be reveling in the moment, soaking in the feeling of having propelled himself to this very point. As Chance closes the book on a historic 2013, his performance on "Arsenio" seemed to be a sort of revelatory moment. Watch the full streaming video below from last night and scroll just a little further for Chance's hilarious interview with Nardwuar while he was on tour in Vancouver.
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[RH Interview] Nate Fox
Photo by Bryan Lamb
A year ago, Nate Fox was living in Pittsburgh, working on a construction site. That all changed on April 30 when Chance The Rapper released his critically-acclaimed project, Acid Rap, featuring production from Fox. The past four months have taken him far from that manual labor life, traveling the country and then the world on the strength of his production and the success of Chance's latest release. To say it has been a long road is not an overstatement, after ten years plugging away in his native Pittsburgh and later Cleveland, Fox caught the ear of Chancellor with his beat for the Acid Rap single "Juice" with its quirky, bouncing, up-tempo beat. The rest is quickly becoming history as Fox and a talented team of producers including Peter CottonTale and Cam Osteen head back out on the road with Chance for his headlining Social Experiment tour. I got the opportunity to catch Fox while he was in Chicago preparing for the tour and had a chance to catch him for a few minutes between a salad and a session. Read about the crazy path his life has taken in 2013 and what lays ahead, below.
Jake: So I know you've had a crazy summer since Acid Rap dropped at the end of April, what's life been like?
Nate Fox: It's been a lot different, a lot different. Like, I don't feel any different but what I've been doing has definitely been different. It feels like a lot longer than what it's been just because its been so much compacted into such a short amount of time. You know, I was doing the construction thing. When Acid Rap dropped I was working construction in the middle of Pittsburgh, not even Pittsburgh but the middle of Pennsylvania, in the sticks. I think I left to go to LA to meet with labels and stuff in like June. And so from June until now, its been like a whirlwind of shit, like I just signed my pub deal with Disney like two or three weeks ago. I just got my check today, it came Fed Ex'ed to Pat (Corcoran)'s house today, but the ironic part is its Columbus Day and the banks are closed so I couldn't even do anything with it. So it was like ten years of waiting just to wait one more day (laughs).
Jake: Still, it always feels good to get that first check.
Nate Fox: Yeah, to get that first real check. I've gotten paid off music a whole bunch, but never to the point where I was like 'maybe I should start looking at places' you know what I mean?
[RH Photos] Behind The Scenes: Chance The Rapper's "The Social Experiment" Tour Rehearsal
Photos by Jake Krzeczowski
What a difference a year makes. Last year at this time I was interviewing Chance The Rapper for an article in the Sun Times as he prepared to play his first headlining show at The Metro. Yesterday, I had an opportunity to attend a rehearsal at the same storied venue on Chicago’s north side as Chance and company prepared for his first headlining national tour. It has been a year of “nexts” for Chancellor Bennett thus far and few moments embodied that more for me than taking in the rehearsal Sunday night. With backing from Peter CottonTale, Nico Segal, Nate Fox and Greg Landfair, along with Jake Lipp and a host of others, Chance isn’t looking to put on a show listeners are necessarily expecting. The core team of CottonTale, Segal, Fox and Landfair has been hard at work for weeks massaging out new arrangements and crafting a show that allows each song to reach its full potential on a live stage, something telling for an artist Chance’s age. Watching his rise has been crazy, but after seeing a small preview of what’s in store it’s safe to say this is all merely the beginning. Check out my photos from last night below and keep it locked to RH for continuing coverage of The Social Experiment Tour.
[Mixtape] Lil Wayne: "Dedication 5"
For the better part of a decade, Weezy's Dedication mixtape series has served as a platform from which to premier the latest Lil Wayne to the masses and is often credited with shaping the mixtape culture of today. On his latest offering, Wayne does it again in true Weezy fashion. The release date of the tape was pushed back as Wayne waited on a last minute track from Chance The Rapper produced by Peter CottonTale, Cam Osteen of J.U.S.T.I.C.E League and Nate Fox, "You Song". A late night call last Wednesday sent the production trio, along with Chance, to Classick Studios in Chicago where they shaped the song in an all-night session before sending it off later that week. Chance is truly blowing up, along with some superbly talented producers out of the Midwest. Check out the mixtape below and keep it locked on RubyHornet for exclusive content on "You".