Three-time Grammy Award winner Chance the Rapper is performing at Wolf Trap on August 1. While he’s played the DMV dozens of times, his upcoming concert is the first time he’ll be at the Filene Center.
Chance has longtime ties to DC. His father, Ken Williams-Bennett, worked at the Department of Labor during former President Barack Obama’s first term, and Chance met Obama as a child.
Ahead of his performance, we spoke with the performer about his career, including the 10-year anniversary of his album Coloring Book. It was the first streaming-only album to win three Grammy Awards and made him the first fully independent artist to win a Grammy.
Tell us more about your tour stop at Wolf Trap.
It’s on my mom’s birthday, and I think she might be coming out with me. I do love playing amphitheaters, there’s just something different about them. The acoustics are different. I just played a special set for Juneteenth at the Ottawa Bowl. It’s very similar vibes, like a picnic. People bring out wine and coolers and hang out.
Do you have any favorite places to visit in the area?
I spent a considerable amount of time in DC. when I was younger. My dad used to live in the area, so I would spend summers out there sometimes. I used to get the chili dogs from Ben’s Chili Bowl.
Can you reflect a bit on the 10th anniversary of Coloring Book? Where did the inspiration for the name come from?
I was making it when my first daughter was born, so I was really learning a lot of things over again. I don’t know if that makes sense, but when you have kids you kind of learn a new understanding of, or maybe for the first time, what love is. I was learning about kindness, gentleness, being a protector, and what responsibility is. There were just so many things I was able to articulate from a joyous perspective at that time.
It reminded me of a coloring book because I felt like for my kids, I was supposed to create some sort of outline for them to fill in and be a guideline. The name didn’t come to me until about two days after I shot the cover and four days before the project came out.
You’ve collaborated with so many musicians. Were there any that surprised you by pushing you out of your comfort zone?
One of my favorite songs on Coloring Book that was completely transformed was a song called “Finish Line.” That song was around for a while before [singer, rapper, songwriter, and record producer] T-Pain came and sang on it. The chorus that he wrote really kind of directed the song, and that’s what inspired me to tack on another song [to Coloring Book] that we had previously recorded for the album called Surf.
There was another song called “Drown” that ended up being tacked on the end of “Finish Line.” And I brought in [gospel singer] Kirk Franklin and his choir. It’s the closest thing to gospel on the project.
Tell us about your youth initiatives in your hometown of Chicago.
I run an organization called Social Works. It’s a nonprofit and we do a lot of advocacy work for children. We run programs in Chicago public schools and have created a lot of after-school programming. We also do work on civic engagement and work with mental health resources providers. It’s a beautiful thing to be able to connect with the next generation of Chicagoans and play a hand in educating them or providing them with resources.
Do you have any new projects in the works?
I’ve got my film, Magnificent Coloring World. We’ve been doing screeners around the country and are looking to release it later this year.
What’s the best advice you’ve received?
Don’t worry so much about your craft that you forget to be a good person. I think it’s a quote from a jazz musician, but the person who told us was my good friend, Nico Segal. He’s a famous musician and his mother told us that when we were younger.
Feature image of Chance the Rapper courtesy Wolf Trap
