Who will tell your story?
Chance the Rapper memorializes friends
On September 4, 2011, a man was brutally attacked Lincoln Park, Chicago. With blood gushing from his friend’s body, Chancelor Bennett held him in his arms trying to his best to bring comfort. Minutes later, the wounds overcame him, and he bled out in Chancelor’s arms.
Rodney Kyles Jr. was a 19-year-old aspiring rapper who lived in Chicago. Kyles was dear friend and mentor to Bennett. According to the Chicago Tribune, Kyles was stabbed multiple times in the chest and abdomen as a result of an unforeseen street fight that transpired on an eery Saturday night. Bennett stayed with Kyles and watched him suffer through the pain, up until his last breath.
Unbeknownst to him, this instance would inspire Bennett to memorialize his friend through music on his way to becoming one of our generation’s most revolutionary rap icon.
Chancellor Bennett, more popularly known as Chance the Rapper, has had several distinct encounters in his twenty-three years of life that transformed him as an individual, and shaped his music. The death of his friend Rodney Kyles Jr. was one of those moments.
Growing up in a city that holds the reputation as the murder capital of the United States, Chance was no stranger to violence. He witnessed unnecessary acts of cruelty imposed on human beings everyday. This insider’s view on a world that most of us turn a blind eye to, or merely think about only when the death toll is blasted on our television screens, is what set a fire in Chance’s heart.
Unlike most young adults growing up in the United States, Chance understood the meaning of life and how quickly it can be taken away. It didn’t take him learning about wars or autocracies in class for him to figure this out. Instead, he was thrown into a world where brutality surrounded him.
As an escape from reality, Chance poured himself into music. He looked up to artists like Lil Wayne and Kayne he related to. With only a few music apps at his disposal, and the determination to vocalize the danger surrounding him, Chance kickstarted his career. He wrote about the things that he saw on the streets, and his anger towards our nation’s government for allowing these attacks to continue.
Chance was passionate about addressing the issues closest to his heart. He had witnessed too many familiar faces full of talent ruined by their environment. Chance knew, undoubtably, that he had a something inside of him that was too special not to share with the world. He was not about to let a life of oppression in the streets of Chicago keep him from reaching his goals. He fought to incorporate lyrics that illustrated his life, and mourn the death of his friends.
In his second mixtape, Chance rapped about the murder of Rodney Kyles Jr. in his song “Acid Rain.” He wrote,
My big homie died young, just turned older than him
I seen it happen, I seen it happen, I seen it always
I see his demons in empty hallways.
As Chance’s career began to take off, he never forgot where he came from. He couldn't if he tried. He would be constantly reminded of the abuse from his hometown wherever he went.
For instance, another somber moment in Chance’s life was when he was informed with the news of his friend, Kevin’s sudden death. Kevin was allegedly picking up a friend from the train station, when a gunman randomly opened fire. Kevin was fatally hit by a stray bullet. When word of this event reached Chance, he was in the process of recording his mixtape “Acid Rap.” Chance decided to memorialize his friend’s death by adding the track “Paranoid” to the album. During an interview with MTV, he stated that, “it’s just a way of putting the death of a young, innocent person in bunch of people’s faces.”
In this track, Chance wrote:
I’ve been riding around with my blunt on my lips
With the sun on my eyes and a gun on my hip.
Paranoia on my mind, got my mind on the fritz
But a lotta n****s dying, so my 9 with the shits.They merking kids here, they murder kids here.
Why you think they don’t talk about it?
The deserted us here.
By commemorating Kevin and Kyles in his songs, Chance keeps their stories alive. Chance had the passion to continue rapping, and that’s what made the biggest difference. Dedication and love got him out of the streets. It allowed him to share his struggles with the world, and broadcast the injustices imposed on kids growing up in the hoods. His music advocates a better life for people and a more humane society.
