Chance the Rapper is quickly becoming one of the most formidable musicians working right now, growing more and more skilled with each passing release, as proven by last week’s Coloring Book. His projects are expansive, exhaustive endeavors that spin gripping yarns, and part of his brilliance lies in his collaborative spirit and his eye for talent. He continues to surround himself with a capable cast of gifted artists driven to help share his vision.
Chance met many of his collaborators networking as a teen around Chicago’s bustling music scene, and they have all influenced the city’s sense of community. This camaraderie has produced a fun-loving atmosphere, the well from which the music’s seemingly endless positivity springs. This willingness to operate closely with colleagues, both local and distant, and to set aside ego, has created a working formula conducive to success. No matter how small a role, it serves a greater function as part of Chance's whole. From featured rappers and singers to trusted producers and instrumentalists, here are some of the most crucial members of the musical brain trust forging Chance’s sonic universe.
Peter Cottontale
Role: The Composer
What He Brings: Music theory
Producer and keyboardist Peter Wilkins, usually credited as Peter Cottontale, is one fifth of Chance’s band the Social Experiment. He has key production credits on Chance’s debut mixtape 10 Day (on “Brain Cells” and the Donnie Trumpet-featuring “Long Time II”) and on its 2013 followup Acid Rap (co-producing “Good Ass Intro” and “Cocoa Butter Kisses” with Cam O’bi). Cottontale is also featured on the 10 Day closer “Hey Ma” with Chance collaborator Lili K. Cottontale met Chance through Lili, who at the time was studying music at Chicago’s Columbia College, which held a networking event Chance attended. Cottontale is a staple of the local Chicago music scene, producing for Lili and Vic Mensa (among others), and playing keyboards in the Chicago band Mathien. He also appeared as a keyboardist on Mark Ronson’s Uptown Special.
Donnie Trumpet
Role: The Loveable Sidekick
What He Brings: Trumpeting, obviously
Before he stood at the helm of the Social Experiment’s collaborative Surf LP, Nico Segal—also known as Donnie Trumpet—could be found playing horns on 10 Day. He was previously a member of the “traphouse” Chicago rock band Kids These Days, which split in 2013. One of his fellow members was Vic Mensa, and together they were a part of the SaveMoney rap collective with Chance, along with local rappers like Towkio, Joey Purp, and Vic Spencer. Both Mensa and Chance appeared on Trumpet’s self-titled 2013 EP. He’s featured on “Free Your Mind,” from Towkio’s debut tape .Wav Theory. Back in 2013, Trumpet spent time performing as a part of Frank Ocean’s touring band, and he even collaborated with him in L.A. sessions with Chance.
Nate Fox
Role: TheBehind-the-Scenes Maestro
What He Brings: A careful curatorial touch, mixing chops
Producer and engineer Nate Fox was working a construction job in Pennsylvania when he racked up four credits on Chance’s Acid Rap (“Juice,” “Lost,” “Favorite Song,” and “Chain Smoker”). He is the fourth member of the Social Experiment. He met Chance at the Illmore during SXSW in 2011 and served in a sort of executive producer capacity for Acid Rap, which meant, at times, doing some acid with its star. The two have continued to work together on all post-Acid Rap projects, most recently on the Saba-featuring “Angels.” He has gone on to produce songs for Lil Wayne, Big Sean, Skeme, Machine Gun Kelly, and Chicago rappers like Lucki (pka Lucki Eck$) and Towkio (He co-produced “Oscillate” with Coloring Book guest Knox Fortune).
Stix
Role: The Pacemaker
What He Brings: An internal pulse
Drummer Greg Landfair, Jr. (aka Stix) has been playing with Chance (and the Social Experiment) since 2014. Before that, he was a member of Kids These Days and played with Frank Ocean during his 2012 Coachella set. He was featured on Surf’s “Sunday Candy” and Chance’s cover of the “Arthur” theme song. Stix’s beat pack, Stix Drum Packs I, II, & III, has been used throughout Chance and Vic Mensa’s catalogs. He co-produced the Young Thug and Lil Yachty-featuring “Mixtape” with CBMIX. (Producer CBMIX has worked with a long list of prominent Chicago rap artists, most notably Chief Keef, Lil Durk, and Young Chop).
Jamila Woods
Role: The Soul Singer
What She Brings: Sunday school sentiment
Singer and poet Jamila Woods was the vocal centerpiece of Surf’s stunning “Sunday Candy,” which set the tone for Coloring Book. It was Woods who pushed the track toward its gospel vibes: “For Donnie Trumpet & the Social Experiment’s ‘Sunday Candy’—the beat just felt like nostalgia, it felt happy, felt like the type of happy where you’re almost crying,” she told the Chicago Reader. “That makes me think of church and my grandma and love and loving someone. So I wrote that hook without thinking of what Chance might connect to it.” After guesting on that ill-advised Macklemore & Ryan Lewis single “White Privilege II,” Woods released her own single “Blk Girl Soldier,” which was co-produced by Chicago rapper Saba, another member of the Chance crew.
Saba
Role: The Capable Stand-In
What He Brings: Tumbling wordplay
Tahj Chandler, also known as Saba, is a free-flowing rapper from Chicago’s west side who has appeared on three of the four Chance projects to date—Acid Rap, Surf, and now Coloring Book. Saba met Chance when they were teenagers frequenting open mic nights—where Saba also met Noname, Vic Mensa, and Mick Jenkins—and the two have been working together ever since trading dexterous, sharply-penned verses that feed off each other, the highlight being their Acid Rap collaboration “Everybody’s Somebody.” Frequent Chance collaborators Jamila Woods and Cam O’bi popped up on Saba’s breakout mixtape, 2014’s ComfortZone.
Towkio
Role: The Swiss Army Knife
What He Brings: Versatility and utility
Preston Oshita, or Towkio, is a member of the SaveMoney rap collective. His debut mixtape, .Wav Theory, was executive produced by the Social Experiment’s Peter Cottontale. Towkio met Chance and the rest of his SaveMoney cohorts simply moving in similar circles. “We were all born in 1993, all our parents landed in Chicago, all of us went to CPS and somehow met each other. We got put in the city at the same time,” he told Hypetrak. “I'm in a situations where I don't have to outsource, I can just make music with my friends. We’ve created our own little bubble. If you grow up in Chicago it's like you're always one person away from somebody.” Though they’ve worked closely in the past—Chance is featured on two different .Wav Theory songs (“Clean Up” and “Heaven Only Knows”)—Towkio’s appearance on Coloring Book’s “Juke Jam” is his first credited appearance on any Chance project.
Kirk Franklin
Role: The Spiritual Advisor
What He Brings: Choir direction and gospel clout
Chance and Kirk Franklin both played major roles on the gospel-rap triumph that is Kanye West’s The Life of Pablo opener “Ultralight Beam.” They reestablish that connection, which we first saw during Chance’s spirited (and at times spiritual) Pitchfork Fest performance last year, on Coloring Book’s “Finish Line / Drown.” Franklin is a gospel veteran who was instrumental in ushering in contemporary gospel culture’s transition toward more mainstream (particularly hip-hop) sounds in the late '90s. It makes sense, then, that he’d be the first to venture into rap territory, especially with someone as overtly positive and faith inclined as Chance.
Noname (formerly known as Noname Gypsy)
Role: The Tag-Team Partner
What She Brings: Spoken-word sass
Fatimah Warner, or Noname, is a prolific emcee with an incredibly small resume of excellent features; the best of these have come on Chance projects (see: Acid Rap’s “Lost” and Surf’s “Warm Enough”). Other work includes features for Mick Jenkins and Pro Era’s Kirk Knight. Noname met Chance at a YOUmedia program in Chicago, a safe space at the Chicago Public Library designated to help high school teens through digital media projects, but they didn’t connect on record until years later, long after she’d sharpened her skills as a poet. Their friendship formed out of a mutual admiration for each other’s work, and that friendship has produced a palpable chemistry. She has been working with Donnie Trumpet on her long-awaited debut mixtape, Telefone.
D.R.A.M.
Role: The Affectionate Crooner
What He Brings: Wind-down music and interludes
Virginia crooner D.R.A.M. (of “Cha Cha” fame) first appeared as the sole guest on the Surf standout “Caretaker.” He appears in a similar capacity on the appropriately titled “D.R.A.M. Sings Special.” In between the two, he worked with Donnie Trumpet on a new version of “$.” Both Chance and Trumpet appeared in D.R.A.M.’s video for “Signals (Throw It Around).” D.R.A.M. toured the country with Chance during the “Family Matters Tour” with Metro Boomin and Towkio.
BJ the Chicago Kid
Role: The Back-Up Singer
What He Brings: Sweet, distinct melodies and harmonies
Rising R&B standout Bryan James Sledge, known more commonly as BJ the Chicago Kid, has made the rounds as a guest star on the indie-rap circuit, working specifically with Black Hippy (Kendrick Lamar, Schoolboy Q, Jay Rock, and Ab-Soul) on several occasions. Much like with Kendrick himself, BJ has a longstanding friendship with Chance. “I’ve known Chance the Rapper for some years now. I met him before the world began to know who he was,” he told Vibe. “So I was able to understand Chance himself. He’s just an incredible creator outside and inside of music. Because we’re friends—we don’t force the music.” BJ lent vocals to “Good Ass Intro” and “Everybody’s Somebody” from Acid Rap, “Slip Slide” and “Windows” from Surf, and on the second “Blessings” from Coloring Book (the last three are all uncredited). Chance repaid the favor for BJ’s single “Church,” which, in hindsight, seems to have provided a glimpse of what was to come on his own records.
Cam O’bi
Role: The Beatmaker
What He Brings: Positive energy (as if Chance needs more)
Cameron Osteen, credited as Cam O’bi or sometimes just Cam, is signed to the beatmaking trio J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League, which came to prominence working on Rick Ross projects. Along with his co-production credits with Peter Cottontale on Acid Rap, he produced the “Good Ass Outro.” Last year, he produced the Chance and Noname collaboration “Israel (Sparring).” He’s made beats for Mick Jenkins, Vic Mensa, Towkio, K. Michelle, and Dreamville signee Bas. More recently, he was credited on the Big Sean and Jhené Aiko collaborative project Twenty88 and Domo Genesis’ debut album Genesis (he’s also featured on the latter). He produced Coloring Book’s second “Blessings.”
Brandon Breaux
Role: The Art Director
What He Brings: A visualization of the Chance experience
Brandon Breaux is the Chicago artist responsible for designing Chance’s mixtape covers. After his initial work on 10 Day, which was supposed to be the end of their working relationship, a series of fortunate events (for Breaux) led him back to Chance at SXSW for the Acid Rap cover. Coloring Book was the first of the three mixtape covers where Chance dictated the shoot. “The decision to have Chance look down was his own,” Breaux told The Fader. “He was holding his baby daughter in the shoot because he wanted to capture the expression he had on his face when he looked at her.” In addition to designing Chance’s covers, Breaux has done work for Rachel Platten and Leon Bridges, along with companies like Alka-Seltzer and Chicago footwear brand BucketFeet.
