Last week, Chance The Rapper was a guest on The Tonight Show, and while seated next to Jimmy Fallon, he looked straight at one of the cameras and announced that his debut album, The Big Day, would be released on July 26. Chance fans who stayed up until midnight to listen to the album as soon as it released were left disappointed, though, because when Thursday turned into Friday, the record was nowhere to be found.
It took a few hours, but now, the album has finally been released. The 22-track effort runs for an hour and 17 minutes, and in that time, Chance found room for a lot of collaborators. Some aren’t exactly out of left field, like Gucci Mane, Nicki Minaj, Smino, DaBaby, and even Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon, who has a rich history of working with hip-hop artists. Beyond that, though, there are some names that perhaps weren’t as expected: Listed in the credits are Death Cab For Cutie’s Ben Gibbard, Randy Newman, Shawn Mendes, En Vogue, and James Taylor. Elsewhere on the album are contributions from John Legend, Megan Thee Stallion, Taylor Bennett, Timbaland, Lil Durk, Francis And The Lights, Murda Beatz, and all four members of The Social Experiment, among others.
Death Cab For Cutie shared the story of how Gibbard ended up on the album, sharing some photos of the band and Chance together, and writing in a series of tweets:
“It all started with a, well, chance encounter three years ago backstage at Bonnaroo. Turns out that we and @chancetherapper had a bit of a mutual admiration society going on, and we had a very fun hang in our dressing room, in which he revealed a straight-up impressive familiarity with some pretty deep Death Cab catalog cuts, and during which the possibility of a collaboration was briefly mentioned.
Fast forward to 2019, and we were truly surprised and honored when Chance got back in touch and asked us to be part of a song called “Do You Remember”, which appears on his debut record, THE BIG DAY, which is out worldwide as of right now. We couldn’t be more thrilled. Thank you, Chance, and congratulations on your big day!”
It all started with a, well, chance encounter three years ago backstage at Bonnaroo. Turns out that we and @chancetherapper had a bit of a mutual admiration society going on, and we had a very fun hang in our dressing room, in which he revealed a straight-up… pic.twitter.com/zNBh1YeO8y
— Death Cab for Cutie (@dcfc) July 26, 2019
impressive familiarity with some pretty deep Death Cab catalog cuts, and during which the possibility of a collaboration was briefly mentioned.
— Death Cab for Cutie (@dcfc) July 26, 2019
Fast forward to 2019, and we were truly surprised and honored when Chance got back in touch and asked us to be part of a song called "Do You Remember", which appears on his debut record, THE BIG DAY, which is out worldwide as of right now. We couldn't be more thrilled.
— Death Cab for Cutie (@dcfc) July 26, 2019
Thank you, Chance, and congratulations on your big day!
— Death Cab for Cutie (@dcfc) July 26, 2019
Last night, Chance hosted an album release party in Chicago, where he took a moment to freestyle. It’s been a big past 24 hours for Chance news, as it was also revealed that he has spent over $30,000 on Postmates.
Listen to “The Big Day” above.
The Big Day is out now via Chance The Rapper. Get it here.
Some artists mentioned are Warner Music artists. .
