Acid Rap

For the style of rap, see Psychedelic rap.

Acid Rap is the second mixtape by American rapper Chance the Rapper. It was released on April 30, 2013, as a free digital download. In July 2013, the mixtape debuted at number 63 on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, due to bootleg downloads on iTunes and Amazon not affiliated with the artist. The mixtape has been certified "diamond" on mixtape site Datpiff, for garnering over 1,000,000 downloads. It was rereleased on streaming services on June 21, 2019, alongside his 2012 mixtape 10 Day. A 10th anniversary Complete Edition was later released, including the full version of "Juice", which previously wasn't available for streaming due to sampling issues.

Acid Rap
Mixtape by Chance the Rapper
Released	April 30, 2013 (2013-04-30)
Recorded	2012–2013
Studio	Soundscape, Force One, Seven, & Classick in Chicago
Genre	Hip hop jazz rap acid jazz
Length	53:52 50:15 (2019 re-release)
Producer	Nate Fox Peter Cottontale Cam O'bi Stefan Ponce Ceej for Two-9 Nosaj Thing DJ Ozone Ludwig Göransson brandUn DeShay Blended Babies Jake One Na'el Shehade
Chance the Rapper chronology
10 Day (2012) Acid Rap (2013) Surf (2015)
Singles from Acid Rap
"Juice" Released: January 31, 2013 "Acid Rain" Released: February 22, 2013

Background and production

Chancelor Bennett has admitted that LSD was used during the production of this mixtape. Bennett has said, "[There] was a lot of acid involved in Acid Rap. I mean, it wasn't too much – I'd say it was about 30 to 40 percent acid... more so 30 percent acid." He has also made it clear that LSD's involvement was just a small factor in the making of the mixtape. Bennett has said that, "It wasn't the biggest component at all. It was something that I was really interested in for a long time during the making of the tape, but it's not necessarily a huge factor at all. It was more so just a booster, a bit of fuel. It's an allegory to acid, more so than just a tape about acid."

Bennett used artists and producers from Chicago who he had also worked with before. The acid jazz sound of the mixtape can be attributed to the collaboration of artists and producers from multiple genres. Bennett has said, "People that I worked with on other projects from multiple genres just came together to make a dope tape." Bennett attributes most of the funky or jazz sound to Peter Cottontale saying, "Peter Cottontale is a really sick jazz pianist."

Bennett describes Acid Rap as more of a music based album and less of a story-based album when compared to his previous mixtape. When asked to compare 10 Day to Acid Rap Bennett said, "Acid Rap is just a whole different monster; it's me as an adult making great music instead of a kid trying to explain a story. It's less of a conceptual project. It's still very cohesive, storytelling-wise, and its own project. But it's more music-based than story-based this time. I'm still telling the story of what it's like coming out of high school, not going to college and my experience with LSD. The new music that I started listening to has got a really heavy Acid Jazz base to it. It's just really good songs; it's a collection of great songs, which is exactly what #10Day is. But it's more of just a really good album than a story."

The cover art for Acid Rap was based on a real picture taken at South by Southwest, an annual conglomerate of film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. The picture was taken by Brandon Breaux, who also designed the cover art for Bennett's previous mixtape 10 Day. The picture happened by chance, according to Beaux, "I had made these Tie Dye tank tops before we went to SXSW and I gave them to Chance… In the back of my mind I'm like I hope you wear this."

Release

Acid Rap was released as a mixtape and not an album. Bennett has said "One of my biggest talents is performing live. and considered live performances and selling merchandise a more important source of income than recorded music, which he wanted to release for free. More recently he has also rapped about his hatred for record labels on "No Problem". Bennett being unsigned also gave him the ability to collaborate with any available artist.

On June 28, 2019, Bennett officially released the mixtape onto streaming services along with his prior mixtape 10 Day. The track "Juice" didn't have its sample cleared and is instead replaced by a 30-second voice memo by Bennett. It was later included in a 10th anniversary Complete Edition.

Reception

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
AnyDecentMusic?	8.1/10
Metacritic	86/100
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
The A.V. Club	A−
Consequence of Sound
Fact	4/5
MSN Music (Consumer Guide)	A−
Pitchfork	8.4/10
PopMatters	8/10
Rolling Stone
Spin	8/10
XXL	4/5

Acid Rap was met with widespread critical acclaim. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the mixtape received an average score of 86, based on 21 reviews. It was also nominated for Best Mixtape at the 2013 BET Hip Hop Awards. The mixtape was ranked at number two on Spin's list and number 26 on Rolling Stone's list of the 50 best albums of 2013, and first on their list of best mixtapes of 2013. It was the second most downloaded mixtape on MixtapeMonkey.com. It was also ranked at number 12 on Pitchfork's Top 50 Albums of 2013.

President Barack Obama added the song "Acid Rain" to his 2016 summer playlist.

In 2019, Pitchfork listed it 84 on its top 200 albums of the decade.

Track listing

Credits adapted from Tidal and the album's vinyl liner notes, and reflect the 2019 re-release.

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"Good Ass Intro" (featuring BJ the Chicago Kid)	Chancelor Bennett Bryan J. Sledge Lilliana Kryzanek Kiara Lanier Peter Wilkins Will Miller J.P. Floyd Cameron Osteen Stefan Ponce Lonnie Lynn Kanye West John Stephens Dewayne Julius Rogers Sr.	Chance the Rapper Peter Cottontale Cam O'bi Ponce	3:59
2.	"Pusha Man" (featuring Nate Fox)	Bennett Charles Jennings Nate Fox Dave Grusin Curtis Mayfield	Chance the Rapper Sushi Ceej	2:19
3.	"Paranoia" (featuring Lili K. and Nosaj Thing)	Bennett Jason Chung	Chance the Rapper Nosaj Thing	4:35
4.	"Cocoa Butter Kisses" (featuring Vic Mensa and Twista)	Bennett Victor Mensah Carl Mitchell Osteen Wilkins	Chance the Rapper Cam O'bi Peter Cottontale	5:07
5.	"Juice"	Bennett Fox Donny Hathaway John Lennon	Chance the Rapper Fox	3:35
6.	"Lost" (featuring Noname)	Bennett Fatimah Warner Fox Wilkins Willie Hutch	Chance the Rapper Fox	3:04
7.	"Everybody's Something" (featuring Saba and BJ the Chicago Kid)	Bennett DJ O-Zone Chuck Mangione Roger Kay Karshner James Yancey Titus Glover	Chance the Rapper DJ O-Zone	4:36
8.	"Interlude (That's Love)"	Bennett Ludwig Göransson	Chance the Rapper Göransson	2:29
9.	"Favorite Song" (featuring Childish Gambino)	Bennett Fox Donald Glover II Willie Clarke Clarence Reid	Chance the Rapper Fox	3:05
10.	"NaNa" (featuring Action Bronson)	Bennett Brandon Rudolph Ariyan Arslani Freddie Hubbard	Chance the Rapper Brandun DeShay	3:20
11.	"Smoke Again" (featuring Ab-Soul)	Bennett Herbert Stevens IV Richard Neville Parry Jonathan Keller	Chance the Rapper Blended Babies	4:32
12.	"Acid Rain"	Bennett Jacob Dutton	Chance the Rapper Jake One	3:36
13.	"Chain Smoker"	Bennett Fox Felix Pappalardi John Ventura Leslie Weinstein Norman Landsberg	Chance the Rapper Fox	3:30
14.	"Everything's Good (Good Ass Outro)"	Bennett Osteen	Chance the Rapper Cam O'bi	5:33
Total length:				53:50

Notes

• "Paranoia" was included as a hidden track following "Pusha Man" for the original mixtape release, with Nosaj Thing's contributions receiving no credit. The 28 seconds of silence that separated the two tracks was omitted entirely on the 2019 streaming re-release and vinyl release. The 2023 'complete edition', released on streaming services to commemorate the mixtape's tenth anniversary, restores 15 seconds of silence between the two tracks.
• "Juice" was replaced by a 30-second voice memo for the 2019 streaming re-release and was omitted entirely on the vinyl release. After clearing the requisite sample, the song made its streaming debut on the 2023 'complete edition' release.

Samples

• "Good Ass Intro" contains a sample of "Intro", written by Kanye West; and embodies portions of "Faithful", written by Lonnie Lynn, John Stephens, Dewayne Julius Rogers Sr. and West.
• "Pusha Man" contains a sample and embodies portions of "Modaji", performed and written by Dave Grusin; and contains an interpolation of "Pusherman", written by Curtis Mayfield.
• "Juice" contains a sample of "Jealous Guy", performed by Donny Hathaway and written by Hathaway and John Lennon.
• "Lost" contains a sample and embodies portions of "Brother's Gonna Work It Out", performed and written by Willie Hutch.
• "Everybody's Something" contains an interpolation of "Diana in the Autumn Wind", written by Roger Kay Karshner and Chuck Mangione; and contains a sample and embodies portions of "Fall in Love", performed by Slum Village and written by James Yancey, R.L. Altman and Titus Glover.
• "Favorite Song" contains samples and embodies portions of "Clean Up Woman", performed by Betty Wright and written by Willie Clarke and Clarence Reid.
• "NaNa" contains samples from "Red Clay", written by Freddie Hubbard and performed by Jack Wilkins.
• "Chain Smoker" contains samples from "Long Red (Live)", written by Felix Pappalardi, John Ventura, Leslie Weinstein and Norman Landsberg.

Production personnel

• Brandon Breaux – artwork
• OJ Hays – "Acid Rap" typeface
• Elton "L10mixedit" Chueng – engineering, mixing, mastering
• Na'el Shehade – engineer, producer
• Alex "PapiBeatz" Baez – engineering
• Andrew Barber – Founder of Fake Shore Drive
• Su$h! Ceej – Member of Two-9, producer ("Pusha Man")
• Peter CottonTale – Music Director, Producer ("Good Ass Intro," "Cocoa Butter Kisses")
• brandUn DeShay (Ace Hashimoto) – producer ("NaNa")
• J.P. Floyd – Trombonist, featured artist ("Good Ass Intro")
• Nate Fox – Member of the Social Experiment, featured artist ("Pusha Man"), producer ("Juice," "Lost," "Favorite Song," "Chain Smoker")
• Alex Fruchter – Founder of Closed Sessions
• Rich Gains – Member of Blended Babies, producer ("Smoke Again")
• Ludwig Göransson – producer ("Interlude [That's Love]")
• JP – Member of Blended Babies, producer ("Smoke Again")
• Kiara Lanier – singer, featured artist ("Good Ass Intro")
• Lili K – singer, featured artist ("Good Ass Intro," "Pusha Man")
• Mike Kolar – engineer, owner of Soundscape Studios, founder of Closed Sessions
• Vic Mensa – rapper, featured artist ("Cocoa Butter Kisses")
• Cam O'bi – producer ("Good Ass Intro," "Cocoa Butter Kisses," "Everything's Good [Good Ass Outro]")
• Stefan Ponce – producer ("Good Ass Intro")
• Nico Segal – Trumpeter, member of the Social Experiment
• Twista – rapper, featured artist ("Cocoa Butter Kisses")
• Austin Vesely – director ("Juice," "Everybody's Something," "NaNa")

Charts

Chart (2013)	Peak position
US Heatseekers Albums (Billboard)	26
US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard)	63
Chart (2019)	Peak position
Canadian Albums (Billboard)	19
US Billboard 200	5
US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard)	3

External links

• Official Acid Rap download and stream