Chance the Rapper

Chancelor Johnathan Bennett, known professionally as Chance the Rapper, is an American rapper born on April 16, 1993, in Chicago, Illinois. Raised on Chicago's South Side, he developed an interest in music early in life, listening to jazz, gospel, and Michael Jackson before being inspired to rap by Kanye West's album The College Dropout. Bennett began rapping in the sixth grade and formed the hip-hop duo Instrumentality during his freshman year at Jones College Prep High School.

Bennett began gaining local traction after recording his debut mixtape, 10 Day, during a high school suspension in 2011; it was released in April 2012. He achieved widespread recognition with his second mixtape, Acid Rap (2013), which established him as a key figure in Chicago hip-hop and among independent music creators. Over his career, he has also joined the Chicago collective Savemoney and served as the lead vocalist for the hip-hop band the Social Experiment.

In 2016, Bennett released his third mixtape, Coloring Book, which streamed exclusively on Apple Music and debuted in the top ten of the Billboard 200. It became the first streaming-only project to win the Grammy Award for Best Rap Album at the 59th Annual Grammy Awards, where its single "No Problem" (featuring 2 Chainz and Lil Wayne) also won Best Rap Performance. His debut studio album, The Big Day, followed in 2019 and reached number two on the Billboard 200. He released his second album, Star Line, in 2025.

As a featured performer, Bennett has appeared on songs such as Kanye West's "Ultralight Beam" and DJ Khaled's chart-topping single "I'm the One." Outside of his music catalog, he has worked across media, serving as a judge on the Netflix competition series Rhythm + Flow and as a coach on The Voice. He earned a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for co-writing the song "Last Christmas," which he performed during a 2017 appearance on Saturday Night Live.

Bennett's career accolades include three Grammy Awards—featuring Best New Artist—three BET Awards, and a Soul Train Music Award. Ranked among the highest-grossing hip-hop touring artists, he has pursued various community efforts, including advocacy for the public education system in Chicago.