Chance The Rapper Crushes Everyone’s Hopes W/ New Album Release Update

Chicago’s Chance The Rapper is going to make fans wait a little longer than expected. The hip-hop star has stepped forward to announce a new untitled studio LP won’t drop in the next few days.

Chance went to Twitter Tuesday (July 17) and shut down hype about a long-awaited follow-up to 2016’s The Coloring Book arriving this week.

Sorry no album this week, def been in the stu tho. 😎

— Chance The Rapper (@chancetherapper) July 17, 2018

In a newly published Chicago Tribune interview, Chance revealed he would drop an album to coincide with this week’s Special Olympics.

The musical drought may be ending, though. “I got that feeling when people do something that has a new feel to it,” he says of his new album. “I’m excited for everybody to get that. It’s going to come out just in time for the Special Olympics.” His long-discussed collaboration with West may also be closer to reality, he says. They “casually” worked on two songs a few weeks ago while Chance visited West in Jackson Hole, Wyo., where West was completing a series of albums for himself and artists such as Pusha T and Kid Cudi. (The Chicago Tribune)

The Chi-Town native also explained the delay in getting out his body of work mostly centered on collaborations issues.

“I’ve never been against selling music,” he says. “Music has value. I put my music out there for free because I wanted people to see and notice it as a beacon for what I’m doing, in terms of how unorthodox I wanted my approach and my delivery of each piece of music to be. On the other side, it’s not really difficult for me to make music and deliver it to the fans, because there are so many more platforms now, a bunch of streaming sites. The bigger concern for artists now is navigating the legal issues of owning your music, your publishing, your distribution. It has been difficult for me to release music with artists who work with the majors. A lot of stuff I’ve worked on hasn’t come out since ‘Coloring Book’ because it’s hard” when collaborating with artists limited by record deals. (Chicago Tribune)

Last month, Chance announced he would headline a 50th anniversary Special Olympics concert on July 21.

Chicago! I'm excited to announce I will be headlining the Special Olympics 50th Anniversary Celebration w @Usher and many more! Get your tickets now @ https://t.co/8rOIFuczrj pic.twitter.com/3U8LA1KGJi

— Chance The Rapper (@chancetherapper) June 25, 2018