Chance The Rapper performs on campus

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By Jonathan Coffman

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The lights were dimmed to a low purple shade over the Social Experiment band when they took stage Monday night in Memorial Coliseum in front of the sold out crowd. Everyone in attendance chanted “Chance,” waiting for the rap artist to arrive.

“I can tell this is going to be one of them loud rooms,” said Chance the Rapper, headliner of the Student Activities Board’s fall concert.

It did not take long for the crowd to meet his expectation. Chance quickly dove into his Acid Rap mix tape’s single “Everybody’s Something.”  The whole crowd, including those in the stands, sang along while waving their hands.

The show boasted a full band backing the rapper with an atmospheric light show and video clips projected behind them including everything from Pineapple Express to Austin Powers.

Chance tore through songs from his ‘Acid Rap’ mix tape during his set, playing a few from the lesser known ‘10 Day’ as well. After playing some of the hits, Chance also taught the crowd to sing along to an unreleased song titled ‘Paradise’. There was even an extravagant cover of the 90’s cartoon Arthur’s theme song.

Artists such as Kendrick Lamar, Steve Aoki and Krewella have previously been featured on the Verge Campus Tour bill.

Some students were pleasantly surprised at the level of interaction Chance kept with the crowd; including freshman finance major Noah Lewis.

“I expected less of a performance to be honest, no offense to Chance,” said Lewis. “I just didn’t know what to expect.”

Ross Thompson, a freshman kinesiology major, agreed and added that Chance put his full effort into the performance.

“For a $10 ticket, you can’t beat that,” said Thompson. “It really blew my expectations away.”

Students found several different moments of the show as especially memorable.

“I love a lot of Chance’s songs, and I felt like a lot of people coming in only knew a few,” said freshman business major Michael Taylor. “Seeing everyone sing along to ‘Cocoa Butter Kisses’ was really mind blowing.”

Some in attendance, like junior chemical engineering major Tyler Wood, were just happy to see the crowd be so excited.

“I loved seeing how hyped the crowd was,” said Wood. “Even the ones who were in the stands were jumping.”

Before finishing the night with a crowd-pleasing rendition of “Chain Smoker,” Chance spoke about how the tour has gone until this point.

“There was only one subpar show,” said Chance. “But I’ve got to say that this show tonight has made up for that one show.”