Chancelor Bennett likes LSD. The 20-year-old Chicagoan who records as Chance The Rapper has made that clear in his tweets, in his verses, and, most evidently, in the title of his latest mixtape. Despite Acid Rap’s obvious fixation on psychedelia, the record is decidedly more narcoleptic than narcotic. Even as Chance weaves lines about keeping tabs on his exes and putting tabs on his tongue, the impression that he makes is closer to the emotional and sensory overload associated with the drug than its bleary, paisley visual cues. On “Cocoa Butter Kisses,” Chance funnels a flood of memories in a wispy way only the touch of mind-altering substances could bring about, and as the record stutters to a close, the image Chance is trying to project is clear. He’s Chancelor Bennett and he likes acid, but he’s a mystic, not a hedonist.
