Chancelor Johnathan “Chance The Rapper” Bennett is a rapper, singer, and activist. Bennett was born on April 16, 1993 in Chicago, Illinois to Lisa Bennett and Ken Williams Bennett. He grew up in a middle-class neighborhood on the South Side of Chicago. Bennett’s father worked in the first term of President Barack Obama’s Administration in the Department of Labor.
Bennett attended Jones College Prep High School where he was a member of the Jewish Student Union. During his freshman year, he formed the hip hop duo Instrumentality. In his junior and senior years, Bennett worked on his debut mixtape, “10 Day” after he was suspended from school for the possession of cannabis for ten days in early 2011. After graduating from high school, Bennett attended a community college for one week before dropping out to pursue his music career.
His debut mixtape “10 Day” was released on April 3, 2012. The mixtape was well-received by critics and was downloaded around 500,000 times from the website Datpiff. In 2013, Bennett released his second mixtape, “Acid Rap,” which was certified diamond with 1,000,000 downloads. In 2016, Bennett released his third mixtape, “Coloring Book,” which featured singles “Angels,” “No Problem,” and “Summer Friends.” The mixtape was a huge success and earned Bennett a Grammy for best rap album for the 2017 Grammy Awards. Bennett released his debut studio album, The Big Day, in 2019, The album featured the singles “Do You Remember” and “Hot Shower.” The album debuted at no. 2 on the U. S Billboard Hip Hop chart but failed to sell 500,000 units.
Over his career, Bennett worked with other artists including Dwayne “Lil Wayne” Carter, John “John Legend” Stephens, and Megan “Megan Thee Stallion” Pete. Bennett also pursued an acting career, acting in movies including Slice (2018), The Lion King (2019), and Between Two Ferns: The Movie 2019 Bennett also has been an activist in his hometown of Chicago. He supported Chicago youth through his hosting of “Mike Nights” for high school students in collaboration with the Chicago Public Library where he attracted celebrity guests such as Kanye West and Hannibal Burass. In 2016, Bennett co-created the nonprofit organization called SocialWorks, an extension of his Open Mike Program, with the goal of creating youth programs for Chicago residents. Chicago. Bennett also fought gun violence in Chicago along with his father called #SaveChicago Campaign. The campaign goal in mind was to stop gun violence during Memorial Day Weekend in 2014. The campaign was successful where Chicago went 42 straight hours without shootings. In 2014, Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel named Bennett Chicago’s Outstanding Youth of the Year for his activism.
Although his family includes prominent Democrats, Bennett classifies himself as an independent voter and has been an outspoken critic of President Donald Trump. Despite his musical success Bennett has admitted to having drug addictions that included LSD and Xanax. Bennett’s music career continues as of 2021. In 2019 he married longtime girlfriend Kirsten Corley and the couple have two children. Bennett has a younger brother, Taylor Bennett, who is also a rapper.
