Reviewed by Lins Honeyman

Like Kanye West, Chicago-based hip-hop artist Chance The Rapper (real name Chancelor Jonathan Bennett) has recently and perhaps surprisingly professed faith in Christ. Chance claims to have turned to Jesus when his daughter was born with an atrial abnormality and has gone on record to state that "I pray a whole lot, you know, and need a lot of angels and just see s**t in a very, like, direct way." He also is quoted as saying that "today's the last day (of) my old life, last day smoking cigs. Headed to church for help. All things are possible through Christ who strengthens me," but herein lies the problem. Aside being a slick and inventive piece of hip-hop - which this undoubtedly is and would earn a higher rating here if based on musicality alone, it's absolutely littered with expletives with "f**k" and "s**t" popping up with alarming frequency ensuring that 16 out of the 22 tracks on this jam-packed offering warrant an "explicit" sticker on Spotify. Equally as frequent, Chance continually uses the term "nigger" (it feels so uncomfortable typing such a people-degrading word) to describe his brothers of colour and, whilst some might reluctantly accept this on a purely mainstream hip-hop release, the man's tendency to blend Scripture with all these words is at best misguided and, at worst, deeply offensive to God's word. Whilst Chance appears to have no problem wearing his Christian faith on his sleeve with plenty of tracks referencing God, the fact that numbers like "Handsome" have highly sexualised lines like "rich nigger, put that d**k up for some ransom" and "I know why you stopped f****n' with me" suggests that the Grammy Award-winner hasn't quite grasped some of the lifestyle and artistic changes that need to happen when a life is turned over to Jesus. There is every possibility that Chance thinks he has made the required alterations because the more considered "We Go High" - a deceptively worshipful piece until a tirade of F words breaks the spell - finds our man claiming that "I too was once a snotty nose with a potty mouth" meaning Mr Bennett is either being deceived or is supremely hypocritical. Chance's massive following and appearances from big names such as John Legend, Nicky Minaj and Randy Newman will mean that this does well in the charts but Christian hip-hop fans should seek out high quality born again acts like Karl Nova, NF and Chaz Miles instead of Chance The Rapper's worrying output.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

Interested in reviewing music? Find out more here.