Coloring Book [Mixtape]

It has the bigness and accessibility of a major hip-hop album thanks in part to zeitgeisty guests like Justin Bieber, Future and Young Thug.

Coloring Book is another exceptional release from a vital artist only now coming into his own.

Chance is no longer quite coming from that place of adolescence that was essential to 10 Day and Acid Rap, but on Coloring Book, he doesn’t yet sound comfortably settled into whatever it is that’s supposed to come next.

Coloring Book, replete with a spiritual aura and talk with the man above, is a heavy contender for the best project released this year because it goes against the grain while still building upon hip-hop’s foundation.

While Coloring Book successfully channels the musical conventions of African-American church tradition without sounding dated or pastiche, the album also subtly chronicles black history and uses it as inspiration for artistic freedom.

On the jubilant, nourishing Coloring Book, his third solo release, has blossomed into a crusader and a pop savant, coming as close as anyone has to eradicating the walls between the sacred and the secular.

Coloring Book is the richest hip hop album of 2016 so far.

Its long-awaited threequel (after a beloved detour for his Social Experiment crew’s Surf last year) hits less directly and challenges its listeners to engage with something downright lovelier than usual.

Coloring Book is exactly the kind of record necessary to elevate an artist from viable to visionary.

Chance is still just 23 years old, but Coloring Book is a staggeringly mature record, and while it isn’t on par with Acid Rap in terms of unforgettable lyricism, it also has a different mission.

Sonically and conceptually, the all-purpose artist isn't interested in coloring in between the lines, but focused instead on offering a vibrant option to things once defined as black and white.

Purged of the drug-addled skepticism of Acid Rap and pulsing with the free-wheeling spirit and zeal that bolstered Surf, Coloring Book is a breezy listen: direct and purposeful.

This is a vibrant, uneven, irresistibly likable, and occasionally transcendent release from an artist who shows no signs of falling off anytime soon.

Though it doesn’t eclipse the LSD-inspired brilliance of Acid Rap, Coloring Book affirms Chance’s place as one of hip-hop’s most promising--and most uplifting--young stars.

Coloring Book is one of the strongest rap albums released this year, and is destined to be on year-end lists aplenty. It's a more rewarding listen than Drake's recently released VIEWS; it's nearly as adventurous as The Life of Pablo.

Rather than cheap ploys to cross over, the questionable collaborations are more likely calculated concessions with the intent of sneaking his evangelical message to a greater audience. After the communion cup runs empty, Chance proves himself worthy of hero worship by subtly and subversively overthrowing the commercialized horrors of his town’s violent drill movement.

Fizzingly fun, this third mixtape sees Chance finessing but certainly not hampering, his freewheeling nature.

Coloring Book is a spirited musical sermon, and Chance's fellow MCs will covet its perfect union of gospel and rap.

Coloring Book delivers one celebratory hymnal after another, emphasizing the natural high that comes with feeling loved and watched over.