I tried really hard to enjoy this album. I didn't like the album at work. I felt embarrassed trying to blast it in the gym—this coming from a guy who unapologetically works out to PARTYNEXTDOOR. I tried matching the loving energy of the project and played it with my girl in the room, only for her to turn on her own music and look at me like less of a man.
The positive messages Chance the Rapper promotes on his debut album makes anyone who comes in contact with the project want to root for it, but the actual 22-song product is hard to even finish.
From the fan-favorite mixtape 'Acid Rap' to the Grammy-winning project 'Coloring Book', Chance the Rapper has a discography that can stack up with any rapper under 30, but 'The Big Day' doesn't come close to comparing to his past works, stylistically or quality wise.
The Good
'The Big Day' has good intentions.
In an industry where a majority of the content is centered around drugs, meaningless sex, and creating the darkest image possible to come off as cool, Chance is preaching faith, marriage and is boldly challenging some of rap's most immovable constructs. Chance knows this, as he directly attacks other rappers for "acting fake satanic" and industry heads for being married but not wanting to portray that image in music on the track "Big Fish".
Aside from positivity, there's little left to like about 'The Big Day'. There are less than a handful of standout verses from Chance, usually one of rap's most memorable creators. One of those standouts was his verse on "We Go High", which Chance described as, "the best verse that I written in my life," in an interview with Nicki Minaj.
The other standout comes on easily the best song of the album, "Roo", as Chance and his younger brother, Taylor Bennett, revisit their upbringing in what is the only song on the project that can stack up to Chance's past work.
Standout features from MadeinTYO, DaBaby, Francis and the Lights, Megan Thee Stallion and Nicki Minaj do their best to bring charisma to an almost unlikeable album.
The Bad
While listening to this album, I lost count of how many times I was forced to stop, pull out an AirPod(slight flex), look in the distance, sigh and ask "who is this song for?"
The song "Ballin Flossin" is a decade too late to be five years to late and "Found a Good One" appeals to literally no one, as the track is drowned in party elements but would automatically end any party within thirty seconds of aux time.
Nothing can convince me that 0fficial_.seth didn't A&R "Hot Shower" and told Chance that his dancing would make no one notice if he Bs'ed lyrics, as Chance confidently raps, "Dude, that shit don't even make no fucking sense/Like having fuckin' arguments for payin' 50 extra cents for barbecue/Saucing on the workers at McDonald's/I don't wanna sit and argue, Good Burger shoulda taught you/We all dudes."
Even with the stress of wondering who many of the tracks' target audience was, the most frustrating moments of listening to this album come from the fact that a large majority of the album seemed as if is was only for Chance's wife. The idea of a woman being an artist's muse is nothing new, but the art Chance is creating after being inspired by his wife feels like art that only she can enjoy. "Let's Go on the Run" feels like a direct message from Chance to his wife and "Sun Come Down" loses its appeal outside of the hook.
The Verdict
A love story album from Chance the Rapper had immense potential, but 'The Big Day' is too centered around his relationship to resonate with any audience. Too many songs are directly addressed at Chance's wife rather than at the more relatable aspect of the feelings she evokes, leaving the audience lost in their role in this project.
As large of a negative aspect as lacking a connection is, it could have been made up for had 'The Big Day' featured a quality of music that had formerly been associated with Chance the Rapper. For example, a lot of people may have never had their heart broken, but they can still appreciate the quality of music Tyler the Creator created with "Igor".
With "The Big Day", Chance the Rapper paints a picture that little to no one can form a connection with and delivers by far his lowest quality of music to date.
Verdict: 2K18/10