Photo of Chance the Rapper by Karl Beck
Despite hailing from just a few hours up I-55 in Chicago, it had been nearly a decade since Chance the Rapper had graced the stage in St. Louis. Chance was in The Lou to celebrate a different ten-year anniversary, though: the tenth birthday of his groundbreaking, Grammy-winning mixtape Coloring Book. He gave the entire album a run-through, but kept things interesting by chopping up the track order, peppering in a half dozen tracks from his most recent LP, 2025’s Star Line, as well as unexpected covers like a mash-up of Lauryn Hill’s “Doo Wop (That Thing)” and Usher’s “My Boo” and “I’m the One,” the DJ Khaled track that Chance was featured on back in 2017. He even saved some of Coloring Book’s biggest moments for last, closing out the main set with “D.R.A.M. Sings Special” and performing “Same Drugs” for the encore.
New Orleans emcee La Reezy opened the show, both his shirt and stage backdrop making sure you knew he was there to promote Skiddle Banana, his new LP released back in July by UnitedMasters and the fifth release the prolific rapper has dropped in the past two years. | Jason Green
