Review of 'Star Line' by Chance the Rapper

Is it time to give Chance the Rapper another chance?

There was a time in the early-to-mid ‘10s when Chance the Rapper was one of the most exciting hip hop artists in the game. His chirpy voice, gospel influences and kooky ‘argh’ ad-lib felt truly unique. And his mixtapes, singles and features were consistently fun. Most of his music was refreshingly upbeat, but he could simultaneously drop a witty hate anthem like ‘No Better Blues’ (one of his most underrated tracks!).

Then, in 2019, Chance dropped his debut album The Big Day – which was widely regarded as a big disappointment. It was littered with goofy vocal deliveries, horrible features and a few too many soppy lyrics about his wife (who he has since divorced, resulting in even more of an awkward listen). I don’t think the album was as horrendous as some critics made out (Fantano harshly gave it a 0!), but it definitely wasn’t in the same league as Acid Rap or Coloring Book.

6 years later and the Chicago rapper is now back with a new album titled Star Line, and he’s clearly hungry for redemption. Opening track ‘Star Line Intro’ sees him rapping his ass off, while immediately confronting his fall off with the bars like: ‘the music stopped, you might lose your spot/no fairytale endings if you lose the plot’. I thought this might be the highlight of the album, but there are many other tracks here where he’s giving it his all. I’ve never heard Chance sound so angry and passionately sociopolitical as on ‘No More Old Men’ (a eulogy to the death of father figures) and ‘Letters’ (a takedown of the corruption in megachurches). And there are some very personal songs like ‘Pretty’ in which he discusses his divorce and the importance of practising self-love.

It feels like his most serious project – we don’t get the same playful rhymes or punchlines as on previous albums, which is something I personally miss (even if Chance did occasionally overstep into corny territory). That said, there are still a few danceable tracks like house-hop song ‘Burn Ya Block’ (the way his voice alternates between low rapping and high singing in this song is also cool).

There are sadly still a few duds in the tracklist that stop this from being up there with his classics: he sounds oddly bored on ‘Ride’, he settles for formulaic pop-rap on ‘Space & Time’ and his inflection on the chorus of ‘Tree’ is annoying (which is a shame, because it’s otherwise a really good song). Still, this is a big improvement on The Big Day.

★★★☆☆

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