Chance The Rapper Is Treating Chicago Residents To Free Screenings Of ‘Marshall’ Today

Update: Chance’s 3 o’clock showing surprise was apparently a Q&A session with the film’s cast, who flew out especially for the event. He also promised that another showing would feature another surprise in the tweet revealing guest appearance.

Chance The Rapper is up to his philanthropic tricks again. This time, he’s buying out a Chicago movie theater and treating local residents to a free screening of Marshall, the ostensible biopic about Thurgood Marshall, the first African-American Supreme Court justice.

Chance has developed a habit of encouraging his fans to check out movies he feels are important to the African-American experience; in February he similarly bought every ticket to a day’s showings of Get Out, the masterful directorial horror debut of Jordan Peele, whom Chance also got the opportunity to interview about the film.

Chance announced the free screening — as he does many other things — on Twitter, with a tongue-in-cheek “press release” that explained the details. “I bought all the tickets all day to go see Marshall at the movie theatre on 87th and the one on Roosevelt,” he wrote. “Go see Marshall today for free. Come to the one at 3. It’s lit. I usually don’t write my own press releases,” he added, capping off the irreverent post with a pair of eyeball emojis.

The “First World Problems” rapper has become one of Chicago’s most beloved residents for his seemingly non-stop stream of charitable acts, donations, and fundraising focused on helping the city, its schools, and its natives overcome the rough-and-tumble reputation its earned as a result of recent outbreaks in violence.